Scofflaws

ONE THING to remember about the Philadelphia Gun Violence Task Force is not how many guns it confiscates, but the people it arrests. And there is one other thing: the amount of noise it makes on the streets. Last week the task force, funded by a $5 million state grant championed by state Sen. Vince Fumo, announced 19 people had been charged with illegally transferring handguns. Since December 2006, the task force, which includes representatives of the offices of the district attorney, attorney general and Philadelphia police, has arrested 165 people and taken in 262 firearms.

After a long slumber that has made it a punching bag for auditors, city Traffic Court is trying to shed its pussycat image to become a junkyard dog. It's been barking - and biting - a lot in the last few weeks. For starters, Traffic Court officials have notified 25,000 motorists who have even one unpaid ticket that their cars will be booted and towed beginning in February if they haven't paid up. Then, some 5,000 scofflaws who have defaulted on promises to pay their fines were told that Traffic Court was filing liens against them.

Got a summons from Traffic Court in the mail? For a moving violation? Just toss it in the trash, right? Wrong, scofflaw, unless you want to spend some time behind bars. For the first time in many years, Traffic Court has come up with a plan to go after scofflaws. The court signed an agreement with Sheriff John Green and the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts to create a 14-member warrant process unit to serve arrest warrants. Fourteen sheriff's deputies will work in the unit.

By now, city Traffic Court's abysmal performance has been documented so many times that a new audit almost seems redundant. But city Controller Jonathan Saidel yesterday stressed a grim hidden cost of the court's ineptitude as he disclosed that it had sunk to yet another new low in its ability to collect unpaid tickets for motor vehicle violations. Add mayhem to the millions in uncollected fines, he said. In January 1991, a New Jersey motorist, later convicted of third-degree murder, killed a 16-year-old Frankford girl in a traffic accident in the Northeast section of Philadelphia.

The City of Camden plans to introduce an unfashionable automobile accessory - the boot. City Council is scheduled to vote tonight on spending $120,000 to buy boots, mechanical devices that are used to immobilize vehicles until their owners pay outstanding parking tickets. Officials are hoping that the boots, which fit snugly on the wheels of the vehicles, will help them collect about $285,000 in outstanding tickets. Valentina Frick, clerk of the city's traffic court, said that police now have to track down scofflaws and serve warrants - a costly effort because many delinquent ticket holders live outside the city.

Stop us if you've heard this one before. Philadelphia is going after drivers tooling around without insurance, valid auto registration or a driver's license. Police will confiscate cars and tow trucks will haul them away to an impound. Autos will be returned only after owners get right by the law. That's the thrust of a pilot program the city announced this week. It was also the thrust of a program announced in November. And in the November before that. Ever since a state law, adopted two years ago, gave the city the right to tow and impound scofflaws' cars, Philadelphia officials have been uncertain about how to use their new-found power.

It was over quickly, with the touch of a few keystrokes and no fanfare: Philadelphia Parking Authority Officer Fatima Pratt spotted a parking violator, punched his license plate into her brand-new computer, and detected that this outlaw owed the city $7,000 in violations. One phone call and a few minutes later, the car got the boot. Within a few hours, the vehicle was towed from Ludlow Street in Center City. Happy holidays! "I wouldn't have known he was a scofflaw if I was writing that ticket on paper," Pratt said as she walked her route from 16th to 18th Streets, Chestnut to Market.

Court officers fanned out through the city overnight, rounding up 32 traffic scofflaws who together owe an estimated $120,000 in fines and penalties. Lt. Sam Turner, of the First Judicial District Warrant Unit, said officers at some locations arrested a second person who was wanted for past traffic violations but was not the subject of the original warrant. "We went looking for one person and lo and behold there was someone else," he said. Those arrested had missed court dates and failed to pay fines totaling an estimated $120,000.

Philadelphia could raise up to $6 million with a two-month parking-ticket amnesty program, but only if it establishes a program to pursue scofflaws more aggressively, according to the city's top parking official. William F. Rafsky, chairman and executive director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority, yesterday made two specific proposals: Applying the "boot" to cars after their owners have piled up three unpaid parking tickets. The boot is a device that is locked to a car wheel to prevent the vehicle from moving.

WE ALL KNOW the problems of the city's schools: the thousands of kids who drop out, or the thousands who are failing, or those who do graduate but with a subpar education that prepares them neither for college nor the workplace. Why don't we hold those responsible for this situation more accountable? We're not talking about teachers or administrators, unions or management, or even students and parents. We're talking about the 100,000 people who own properties but aren't paying their property taxes, and thus robbing the schools of the money they need.

WE ALL KNOW the problems of the city's schools: the thousands of kids who drop out, or the thousands who are failing, or those who do graduate but with a subpar education that prepares them neither for college nor the workplace. Why don't we hold those responsible for this situation more accountable? We're not talking about teachers or administrators, unions or management, or even students and parents. We're talking about the 100,000 people who own properties but aren't paying their property taxes, and thus robbing the schools of the money they need.

Red-light scofflaws, you just caught a break. Philadelphia's red-light cameras were illegal over the weekend, and no tickets generated during that time will be sent to motorists. The law that authorized the red-light cameras now in use at 20 intersections expired at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Gov. Corbett did not sign the bill re-authorizing the cameras (and extending their use to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia suburban communities) until Monday evening. So, if you ran a light in Philadelphia during that period and saw the ominous flash of the camera strobe, relax.

Stepped-up enforcement of seatbelt laws begins today across the country, with Pennsylvania offering free child-seat checks at dozens of locations. The campaign, dubbed "Click It or Ticket," runs until June 5 in most states, with even multistate agencies like the Delaware River Port Authority taking part. A second crackdown period happens every fall. Requirements and penalties vary from state to state. In Pennsylvania, drivers and front seat passengers 18 and over, as well as children ages 8 to 17 in any seat, must wear a seatbelt.

DEMOCRACY is a beautiful thing. We think that pretty much every day, but especially around election time. For the purposes of making endorsements, this board meets one-on-one with candidates. We are always impressed with how wildly varied the candidates are - ranging from sophisticated attorneys to rowhouse laborers - most of whom share a commitment to the city that, at the risk of getting mushy, is inspiring. Running for office, especially here, is not for the faint of heart. But generally, the more people who try, the better we are. Still, it's not unreasonable to suggest there should be some basic standards for fitness to serve.

Court officers fanned out through the city Monday night, rounding up 32 traffic scofflaws who together owe an estimated $120,000 in fines and penalties. Lt. Sam Turner, of the First Judicial District Warrant Unit, said officers at some locations arrested a second person who was wanted for past traffic violations, but who had not been the subject of the original warrant. "We went looking for one person, and, lo and behold," he said, "there was someone else. " Those arrested had missed court dates and failed to pay fines.

Court officers fanned out through the city overnight, rounding up 32 traffic scofflaws who together owe an estimated $120,000 in fines and penalties. Lt. Sam Turner, of the First Judicial District Warrant Unit, said officers at some locations arrested a second person who was wanted for past traffic violations but was not the subject of the original warrant. "We went looking for one person and lo and behold there was someone else," he said. Those arrested had missed court dates and failed to pay fines totaling an estimated $120,000.

Bob Faraco says he is a reluctant scofflaw. Yes, employees at his knife-sharpening company often park illegally, but that's how they have done it for about 90 years, zipping in and out of Center City restaurants, picking up dull blades and replacing them with some that can slice through flesh, bread, vegetables, and fruit. As a result, employees at Faraco Knife Grinding Services in Pennsburg have racked up $40,580 in unpaid parking tickets in the last six years, making Faraco No. 1 on the list of "Top 25 Parking Ticket Scofflaws" released yesterday by the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

Kirsten Gwynn has no memory of the moment she was hit by a bicyclist while jogging last month along Boathouse Row. When she tries to picture it, all she sees is a bike tire. The bystanders calling 911, the ambulance rushing her to intensive care, the doctor telling her she had a skull fracture? All a blank. Gwynn was in Hahnemann University Hospital for three days and bedridden for weeks after she returned to her Center City apartment. Gwynn, 25, a nursing student at the University of Pennsylvania, who expects to graduate next month, struggles with dizzy spells, hearing loss, and, if she moves too quickly, a sensation that her brain is "jumbled.

Philadelphia drivers aren't in any danger of being deposed from their king-of-the-road status in Center City, but they'd better be more careful about where they steer and stop from now on. Under a crackdown that started yesterday by police and parking officers, motorists who double-park, block intersections, or stop illegally in loading zones will find themselves ticketed or even towed more quickly. The initiative announced Friday by Mayor Nutter's administration and the Philadelphia Parking Authority is aimed at keeping traffic moving, cutting congestion and pollution, and making streets safer.

Officers handcuffed 35 suspected scofflaws and took them to Philadelphia Traffic Court, including a couple who together allegedly owed almost $21,500, according to David Lawrence, chief administrator of Philadelphia's courts. All tallied, the 35 defendants had $82,000 in unpaid tickets and fines, Lawrence said. The sweep was conducted late Sunday night through yesterday morning by officers of the Warrant Service Unit, the court system's law-enforcement arm. Targeted were addresses in several northeastern police districts, along a corridor flanked by Roosevelt Boulevard and I-95.