PORTLAND, Ore. — With the Portland City Council's approval, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) plans to hire 22 new parking enforcement officers. They said post COVID-19 pandemic drivers never got back into the habit of paying the meter, registering their car and keeping an up-to-date license plate. Officials say this is not only a safety concern but has also created a deficit in the millions.
Patty Olinger has been a parking enforcement officer for PBOT for almost nine years. She said during the pandemic officers like herself gave people plenty of slack but starting July 8 — that will change.
"People gambled a lot more about paying. They thought, if I only see one person a week — I'm not going to pay because I'm not going to get caught," said Olinger. "Us being out here consistently makes it so people are not going to gamble as much."
Recent data from the DMV shows an alarming number of Portlanders have let their car registration lapse
In May, officers cited 2,400 cars for expired registration and 670 vehicles for not having a license plate.
PBOT said these nearly two dozen officers will focus on expired tags, missing plates, wrong way parking and cars blocking visibility at intersections.
"We feel like there are so many violations," said Dylan Rivera from PBOT. "These violations are having not just an effect on the perception of lawlessness and chaos on our streets. They are also having a budgetary impact."
These new officers will also allow PBOT to focus on neighborhoods outside downtown, where they say people can tend to park in ways that are unsafe.
Ultimately, they hope drivers can understand the big change.
"Unfortunately, we're going to have to spend some money with additional enforcement officers," Rivera stressed. "To get people back in the habit of following the rules that we all followed before the pandemic."
Not only is PBOT hiring more parking enforcement officers, but starting July 8, they will be booting cars that have more than $500 in outstanding tickets.