Taking a Stand Against Huge Jaywalking Fines

Some neighbors are throwing a big fuss about big fines for jaywalking.  They say the fine doesn’t fit the crime.

Some business owners say it’s cutting into their bottom line.

Here’s the breakdown of how we got to this point.  A Sweedish visitor died after being struck by a pickup in April.  Another delegate was also hit.  It happened in a marked crosswalk at Bull and Oglethorpe.

Several weeks later, police announced a new campaign to ramp up enforcement of crosswalk laws for drivers and pedestrians alike.

Nobody seemed to complain then, but that was until the tickets and fines started going out.  We got call after call saying police were just waiting on Broughton intersections for folks to break the law.

Metro Police said they gave fair warning!

News 3’s Randi Hempel was back on Broughton today, talking jaywalking and ran into a familiar face.

As I went to cross the street, I looked up and halted, so I didn’t get a ticket.  Across the street was the Il Pasticcio employee we talked to a few weeks ago about the ordinance he’s not the only one, then or now who had concerns.

Today, I talked to several men who have been front and center in the fight against city hall—they say if handing out tickets was truly a safety issue, police wouldn’t be on Broughton Street passing out hefty fines, but rather on Bull and Oglethorpe or over on Ogeechee and Highway 17.
   
“There’s just a lot of people who depend on getting the locals down here, it’s not just the tourists. The last thing I want them to do is get a jay-walking ticket on their way back to their car that has a parking ticket on it, they may not come back,” says Ruel Joyner, owner of 24e.

Ruel Hoyner, owner of 24e is standing up to the stiff jaywalking tickets hundreds have already received.

“These knee jerk reactions with things it’s putting us in a bad light and that’s unfortunate, all of the hard work the CVB puts in the Savannah Development and Renewal Authority everything that’s been done in the last 10 years, can easily back to the way it was, 80% unoccupancy,” adds Joyner.

Joyner says the fines are a way for City Hall to make money and it’s attacking downtown businesses.

Joyner isn’t the only one fighting the outrages jaywalking fines other business owners and citizens of savannah are banding together and in these technological times, what better way to do it than on facebook.

Michael Gaster began the group, Savannahians Against Ticketing for Jaywalking.  He says it’s a constitutional issue.  The 8th amendment says excessive fines should not be imposed and in a recession, it’s ridiculous.

“People are having to choose between ok do I pay for a jay walking ticket or do I go grocery shopping, pay my rent or do I pay my electric bill, because I don’t want to be in contempt of court,“ explains Michael Gaster, founder of Savannahians Against Ticketing for Jaywalking.

That’s why Gaster and Joyner are both hoping city leaders do what they say is “the right thing.“

The first thing they need to do is throw out these tickets or reduce them. 

So people will still come downtown and shop locally.
 
The facebook group, created a week ago has nearly a thousand members, people thanking Gaster for being a voice.
 
So, what do you think?  Let me know on WSAV’s facebook page.  If you don’t have a page yet, you can find a link on wsav.com.

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The Savannah City Council will meet today.  While they may discuss the new Jaywalking ordinance, Bret Bell, Director of public information for the City of Savannah, says no vote will be taken today.

“I think the city manager (Michael Brown) and the police chief (Michael Berkow) are supportive of the enforcement efforts but they want more flexibility in the fines,” says Bell.

Right now, police are handcuffed by state law for the amount of the fines.  Fines for disobeying pedestrian safety laws range from $145-$208.

Bell says Brown and Berkow want something that will send a message and get the point of safety across, but at a reasonable price.

Click here for the agenda for today’s council meeting.