Parking Fees to Increase in Claremont

The fines for parking violations in the City of Claremont will increase once a city council resolution goes into effect on Tuesday.Part of the reason for this resolution is to standardize the fines for parking violations in Claremont. Currently, parking fines in Claremont range from $20-55 for first-time offenses.The resolution sets the fines for all stopping, standing and parking violations at $35. In addition, the violation for parking in a handicapped zone will go from $250 on the first offense to $325.Linda Elderkin, the mayor pro tem for the City of Claremont, explained that the state of California recently passed a bill in the Senate that increased the parking citation taxes by $4.50 per ticket.The new resolution, Elderkin explained, is meant to offset this.In addition, Elderkin noted that a Claremont Police staff report discovered that the fines for parking violations in Claremont had not been changed in 25 years.Elderkin also added that, even with these increases, the parking fines in Claremont will still be considerably less than the fines in neighboring cities, such as Pomona or La Verne, which issue fines of $40 and $45 for basic parkingfees, respectively.Nonetheless, Elderkin still feels that the increases may be a little steep.“I thought it was too much of an increase all at once, particularly for overnight parking to go from $20 to $35,” Elderkin said. “I would have preferred something more gradual.”Elderkin noted, however, that the new increases will have very little effect on the students at the Claremont Colleges.“The college streets are not ours,” Elderkin said. “Our parking increases do not affect you because the college streets on your campus belong to the college … our police do not give tickets on the campuses.”Elderkin warned students to be wary of the public streets often mistaken for private ones, such as College Avenue.“If you’re parked on College, you’re not parked on a campus street, but if you’re parked in front of Harwood, then you are on a college street and you’re fine,” Elderkin said.