Across the board increases for parking violations went into effect Tuesday in West Haven after city council members unanimously approved them.
Some parking tickets now cost five times more than before.
From her experience working in downtown West Haven, Patricia Barber said she supports the increases.
“People don’t really care where they park here,” Barber said, “They seem to have a tendency to park where they are not supposed to.”
The cheapest tickets for violations like parking on a sidewalk jumped from $10 to $50. Violations that previously cost $15 are now $75.
If caught illegally parking in a handicapped space, that penalty tripled from $50 to $150.
“It is a big jump,” Mayor Ed O’Brien (D) said, “But that’s just a result of we haven’t done it in many years. Ideally, we don’t want to give out any tickets. Compliance is what we’re after.”
The heftier tickets may help alleviate parking problems around the West Haven Veterans Affairs Hospital, O’Brien said.
“There’s always parking issues there where people park all day long and we really have to leave those spaces open for our vets,” he said.
The penalty for parking without a $10 guest sticker by the West Haven beach went up from $25 to $100.
“If you don’t have a sticker and you’re an out of town resident and you didn’t pay, you will get a ticket,” O’Brien said.
