Ideas 4 MAPS

[gopokes88]

Lol. Like okc and Oklahoma is the only place in the country that issues bench warrants for unpaid parking tickets

Literally every other city issues bench warrants. And there’s a huge difference between parking and traffic tickets. Your buddy likely had traffic tickets.

[HangryHippo]

Not sure what else can be done but reading that article saying the jail is extremely overcrowded there must be a better solution for traffic bandits. I don't look at someone not paying a traffic ticket in the same light as a murderer or rapist or someone that is out committing actual crimes. But in OKC they are all lumped together. Do other cities put people in jail for unpaid traffic tickets?

I don't disagree with you - I don't think overcrowded jail is the ideal method for handling these situations and there's got to be a better solution. I certainly don't look at someone with unpaid traffic fines in the same light as a murderer or rapist, but your friend committed a crime and received a citation and a fine, which he then chose not to pay and is now suffering the consequences. Was that fair? That's debatable, but it could have been avoided by either not committing the traffic violations or paying the fines or showing up to court. This the result of several poor choices on your friend's part. I don't know about other cities.

[onthestrip]

Was your friend in the wrong for not paying traffic tickets? Of course. Is it worth locking them up for a couple days and tacking on hundreds, or even thousands in extra fines? Absolutely not. It looks like your friend could pay it so he got out after two days. But so many have got caught in a debt trap and effectively are put away in debtors prison. We pay to lock them up because they cant pay a exorbitant fine or cant make bail, we keep the jail overcrowded and unsafe and prevent someone from getting back into his life and job. It makes no sense.

Impound his car, add a small fee to the original fine and move on. Arrest is totally unnecessary. Its actually been shown that cities and states collect more money when they dont have ridiculously high fees tacked onto every charge and late payment. Its better to collect $250 rather than never collecting $1500 and having to lock someone up for a month (another $1200 cost to the city).

[OKCRT]

Was your friend in the wrong for not paying traffic tickets? Of course. Is it worth locking them up for a couple days and tacking on hundreds, or even thousands in extra fines? Absolutely not. It looks like your friend could pay it so he got out after two days. But so many have got caught in a debt trap and effectively are put away in debtors prison. We pay to lock them up because they cant pay a exorbitant fine or cant make bail, we keep the jail overcrowded and unsafe and prevent someone from getting back into his life and job. It makes no sense.

Impound his car, add a small fee to the original fine and move on. Arrest is totally unnecessary. Its actually been shown that cities and states collect more money when they dont have ridiculously high fees tacked onto every charge and late payment. Its better to collect $250 rather than never collecting $1500 and having to lock someone up for a month (another $1200 cost to the city).

Of course he was in the wrong for not paying when due. The point I was trying to make was the over crowding in the county jail. Has to be a better way to deal with people that don't pay tickets on time. They could prob. ease the swell in the County Jail if there was other options for the non payers. Funny thing is though,he went before the judge and they made a deal where he could pay them out. If he had to pay or stay in jail he would have either had to borrow the money to pay them or stay his time in jail. Not sure how long they give you if you fail to pay tickets. I assume that the city makes a ton of money of these types of situations so they prob wouldn't want to change the way they do business. And putting someone in jail for failing to pay a ticket and lumping them in with real criminals is totally insane IMO.

[hoya]

Ultimately the problems with the county jail are county government problems. It's not really something the city has any control over.

[d-usa]

Ignores initial ticket, ignores summons, ignores court date, ignores the issue the entire time between the tickets were issued and the time he was arrested and the finally paid after being in jail and seeing a judge.

“There has to be something he could have done other than getting arrested...”

[citywokchinesefood]

Ignores initial ticket, ignores summons, ignores court date, ignores the issue the entire time between the tickets were issued and the time he was arrested and the finally paid after being in jail and seeing a judge.

“There has to be something he could have done other than getting arrested...”

This is one of those tough cases to be sympathetic towards. I am upset that we paid to incarcerate this jackass that clearly has no common sense. This guy needs a court mandated class in being an adult that he is responsible for paying for.

[OKCRT]

Ignores initial ticket, ignores summons, ignores court date, ignores the issue the entire time between the tickets were issued and the time he was arrested and the finally paid after being in jail and seeing a judge.

“There has to be something he could have done other than getting arrested...”

That is not the point. There is no question that he should have paid the tickets. The question is clogging up the courts and the jail with people that have unpaid traffic tickets. Go impound their vehicle or suspend driving lic. or whatever. Better ways to punish people other than taking them to an over crowded jail (with real criminals) and clogging up the court system.

I am sure there are prob. many people that get tickets and have to make a choice of feeding their kids,keeping the gas on or paying the ticket. I am prob. in the minority but I don't think non payers of traffic tickets should be thrown in jail with real criminals. In fact, It's insane IMO.

Then again we can spend a 1/4 of a billion dollars on a BIG jail so they can fill that one up and make even more money off these traffic ticket bandits.

[dankrutka]

Ignores initial ticket, ignores summons, ignores court date, ignores the issue the entire time between the tickets were issued and the time he was arrested and the finally paid after being in jail and seeing a judge.

“There has to be something he could have done other than getting arrested...”

No one is saying he didn't mess up. However, it's still a waste of taxpayer money. The costs can then quickly become inordinate.

[hoya]

That is not the point. There is no question that he should have paid the tickets. The question is clogging up the courts and the jail with people that have unpaid traffic tickets. Go impound their vehicle or suspend driving lic. or whatever. Better ways to punish people other than taking them to an over crowded jail (with real criminals) and clogging up the court system.

I am sure there are prob. many people that get tickets and have to make a choice of feeding their kids,keeping the gas on or paying the ticket. I am prob. in the minority but I don't think non payers of traffic tickets should be thrown in jail with real criminals. In fact, It's insane IMO.

Then again we can spend a 1/4 of a billion dollars on a BIG jail so they can fill that one up and make even more money off these traffic ticket bandits.

Stepping into my defense attorney shoes for just a minute, almost all of those "real criminals" are awaiting trial and are still presumed innocent of any crimes.

[d-usa]

Did he make any effort to seek any of those other options?

[SouthSide]

This thread is way off topic.

[jerrywall]

Still off topic but FYI, Oklahoma City tries really hard to work with people that have warrants for unpaid traffic tickets. They've put out regular press releases for years that explain that you won't be arrested if you contact them about unpaid tickets and try to work something out, even if there's already a warrant. They'd much prefer working out arrangements with folks. At some point there's a limit though. Suspending someone's license just means they'll drive without a license, many times. Impounding a car can be even more devastating, especially considering the daily storage fees which rack up quickly. If someone can't afford to pay a ticket, they probably can't afford to pay a ticket plus impound and storage fees. So not sure what the solution is. You can't just not enforce people paying tickets, because why would anyone?

Side note, as for being jailed with "real criminals", I've been in the country jail. I never felt worried or threatened by the other "residents" there. The worst part was the toilets. Now the guards on the other hand...

[OKCRT]

Still off topic but FYI, Oklahoma City tries really hard to work with people that have warrants for unpaid traffic tickets. They've put out regular press releases for years that explain that you won't be arrested if you contact them about unpaid tickets and try to work something out, even if there's already a warrant. They'd much prefer working out arrangements with folks. At some point there's a limit though. Suspending someone's license just means they'll drive without a license, many times. Impounding a car can be even more devastating, especially considering the daily storage fees which rack up quickly. If someone can't afford to pay a ticket, they probably can't afford to pay a ticket plus impound and storage fees. So not sure what the solution is. You can't just not enforce people paying tickets, because why would anyone?

Side note, as for being jailed with "real criminals", I've been in the country jail. I never felt worried or threatened by the other "residents" there. The worst part was the toilets. Now the guards on the other hand...

Never been inside the place and don't want to go and find out what it's like either. I did read that article where it says the plumbing is shot and the sewage back up. This thread got me thinking that I have a parking ticket from one of the lots downtown where I went over about 20 min. on my time about a year ago. I actually forgot about it so I am thinking they may have a warrant out for me. I don't remember it looking like a regular ticket the cops give out though. Sheesh, I guess I better call and find out. I don't want to experience those toilets or the guards.

This is my last post on this subject but seems to me they could have a better option for the non payers. Maybe send someone out and put a boot on their car like they do in the big cities for violaters. That would get someones attention.

[gopokes88]

Maybe you should just get better friends

[Midtowner]

That is not the point. There is no question that he should have paid the tickets. The question is clogging up the courts and the jail with people that have unpaid traffic tickets. Go impound their vehicle or suspend driving lic. or whatever. Better ways to punish people other than taking them to an over crowded jail (with real criminals) and clogging up the court system.

I am sure there are prob. many people that get tickets and have to make a choice of feeding their kids,keeping the gas on or paying the ticket. I am prob. in the minority but I don't think non payers of traffic tickets should be thrown in jail with real criminals. In fact, It's insane IMO.

Then again we can spend a 1/4 of a billion dollars on a BIG jail so they can fill that one up and make even more money off these traffic ticket bandits.

The jail is not "clogged up" with people who didn't pay traffic tickets. That's really laughable. At most, assuming no other holds, that person would be held over until arraignment and released on an own recognizance bond with the promise to come back for the court's disposition docket.

We attorneys don't really see much of it because if folks can hire attorneys, they can usually pay their fines too, but the OKC Muni Court has started several programs to ensure we're not locking folks up just because they're poor. If they tell the court they can't afford the costs, they're given a packet to fill out and a date to show up so a judge can go over that packet to decide whether to reduce or eliminate fines and fees. We also have multilingual community outreach folks to help non-English speakers.

Lots of folks in this thread are either projecting federal issues onto OKC when OKC is well ahead of the curve or they just haven't been to city court in a very long time.

[OKC Guy]

On tickets once they get bad (not paying) put them on pothole patrol and work with city crews filling potholes. Its related to the act of driving (roads) and offers an option for those unable to pay.

As for Maps4 I want to see road construction funding extended beyond what they are doing. We need to get ahead of our bad roads and although the current funding is helping its still a bandaid. We need to keep going and this will be positive in that it will reach every resident of OKC vice just downtown. The city residents need to see their areas improved and roads are one area that all use. That way when they ask for the next round to do stadiums or other centralized projects the outer residents will buy in.

[gopokes88]

Lol. Calling the go bond and maps 4 roads a bandaid. Didn’t know bandaids cost $800 million. Let’s get through all of that money before we declare it a band aid.

[Laramie]

This thread is way off topic.

Agree!

[Sooner.Arch]

I have dreamed of an Oklahoma City Museum of Modern Art and Sculpture Museum.
The lot would be right across the Museum of Art. Personally, I would tear down everything there except the concrete structures that were part of the bank

This portion would become the outdoor sculpture garden, similar to the sculpture museum in Dallas. Those are dreams haha, big ones I know!

[OKC Guy]

Lol. Calling the go bond and maps 4 roads a bandaid. Didn’t know bandaids cost $800 million. Let’s get through all of that money before we declare it a band aid.

Laugh all you want but this is the consensus of folks around the city. Before they ask for more money they will need to have addressed roads. Otherwise folks will defeat the next maps. If the current spend does fix roads then I think most citizens will support maps 4. But its no laughing matter to me and others who do a lot of driving

[gopokes88]

Laugh all you want but this is the consensus of folks around the city. Before they ask for more money they will need to have addressed roads. Otherwise folks will defeat the next maps. If the current spend does fix roads then I think most citizens will support maps 4. But its no laughing matter to me and others who do a lot of driving

Repaving roads takes time, unless you want to redo all of them at once and create a traffic nightmare.

The issue isn't funding. There's plenty of money. The issue is redoing all of OKC's roads takes more than 2 years. Those people are the same people who probably get into a rage about I CANT BELIEVE THEY CLOSED THIS ROAD AT THIS TIME BECAUSE OF X EVENT. People just like to bitch and moan

[hoya]

I have dreamed of an Oklahoma City Museum of Modern Art and Sculpture Museum.
The lot would be right across the Museum of Art. Personally, I would tear down everything there except the concrete structures that were part of the bank

This portion would become the outdoor sculpture garden, similar to the sculpture museum in Dallas. Those are dreams haha, big ones I know!

I like this idea a lot. I'm a nerd who loves museums, but I think this is a great suggestion.

[shawnw]

The bond program takes place over 10 years. MAPS 4 will need to be voted on in 2019. Your request has merit but is impractical. This is the nature of our 10-year bond programs. There are literally still things being wrapped up from the 2007 bond program.

[Laramie]

Would love to see an Oklahoma City Aquatic & Wellness Center.

Similar to the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Oklahoma City could build a similar center like the one in Greensboro; however make it complete with the Wellness Center.