A Turf War Over Parking Enforcement Bursts Into Public View
The Oakland finance department has plans to take over parking enforcement from Oakland Department of Transportation (OakDOT). Officials presented their plan at a city council committee meeting on Tuesday.
During the meeting, Michael Ford, who served as parking director until recently, made claims that over the last 10 years, he was periodically approached by “people in power” in Oakland who asked him to fix their parking citations or obtain other parking privileges. Ford says he turned down these requests.
Davina Hurt, director of government ethics, said she found Ford’s claim “shocking.” If his allegations are true, she said, it could mean that an “abuse of a public office for personal benefit” was going on for years.
“ To ask someone to change a parking violation,” Hurt said, “truly undermines equal treatment under the law, that concept that we all share, and it could also demonstrate a broader culture of entitlement and abuse” in the city, she said.
Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by The Oaklandside.