Scranton Times v. Scranton Parking Authority

54 Pa. D. & C.4th 90, 2001 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 395
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna County
DecidedFebruary 21, 2001
Docketno. 2000-CV-3559
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 54 Pa. D. & C.4th 90 (Scranton Times v. Scranton Parking Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scranton Times v. Scranton Parking Authority, 54 Pa. D. & C.4th 90, 2001 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 395 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2001).

Opinion

NEALON, J.,

The Scranton Times, Sunday Times and Scranton Tribune have filed a petition under the Right-to-Know Act seeking the disclosure of documents concerning parking violations and fines that were voided by the Scranton Parking Authority for designated vehicles operated by personnel of the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office. Following a series of hearings and conferences on January 22, 2001, February 13,2001, andFebruary 20,2001, the SPA and District Attorney Andrew J. Jarbola voluntarily produced certain records and The Times withdrew its requests for other materials that it had previously demanded. Based upon those disclosures and concessions, the remaining issues in dispute are limited to (1) records reflecting the geographic location of each voided parking violation and (2) the SPA’s computer printouts itemizing fines which were issued, but not collected, for parking infractions by county vehicles that had been assigned to the district attorney and first assistant district attorney. Since the documents requested are “public records” and their disclosure with certain redactions will not reveal the institution or result of any criminal investigation, nor will it compromise the personal security of any law enforcement personnel or other person, The Times’ request to inspect those materials will be granted.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The SPA maintains the jurisdiction to enforce parking violations in the downtown commercial (C-D) district which is comprised of a several block radius around the Lackawanna County Courthouse and the city magistrate’s office. (See affidavit of SPA executive director, Kevin [92]*92Conway, ¶1.) The SPA is empowered to assess fines of $20 for meter overtime violations and $50 for parking in a handicapped designated space or within 20 feet of a fire hydrant. The penalty for a parking meter violation may be reduced to $10 if payment is delivered to the city treasurer’s office within 24 hours of the issuance of the ticket. If the fines are not paid within five days, the penalty is increased to $100, plus payment of costs of prosecution and the delinquent fines are processed into citations at the city magistrate’s office. (Id., ¶2; file of council no. 41 of 1987, §§12, 16; file of council no. 36 of 1999, §§12, 16.)

Because of “the limited parking available around the courthouse” and the need for law enforcement personnel to have “immediate access to the courthouse facility ... for the performance of official law enforcement duties and activities,” the SPA formulated a “policy of not processing parking tickets issued to . . . undercover vehicles . . . utilized by law enforcement professionals in performing law enforcement related business and activities” in the Lackawanna County Courthouse and the city magistrate’s office. Under this policy, the SPA would enter designated license plate numbers into its computer so that tickets which were issued to undercover vehicles would not be forwarded to the city magistrate’s office to be processed as citations. Although parking tickets would be issued by SPA meter attendants who were unaware of the identity of the undercover vehicles, they would not be transmitted by the SPA computer to the city magistrate’s office once they became delinquent for nonpayment within five days. Additionally, in order “to ensure accountability,” former Chief County Detective [93]*93Walter Carlson required each undercover detective “to collect and maintain any parking tickets issued to their vehicles” so that they could be placed into “a designated repository” for inspection by the SPA. (See SPA’s answer to The Times’ petition, exhibit A, pp. 1-2.)

After Mr. Carlson left the employ of the district attorney’s office in July 1997, the district attorney provided the SPA with a confidential list of undercover vehicles that were to be immune from parking violations. (Id., p. 2.) By letter dated May 1,1997, the district attorney furnished the SPA with the license plate numbers for 15 vehicles which had been classified as undercover. On April 8, 1998, the district attorney forwarded a revised list to the SPA which increased the number of undercover vehicles to 22. (See transcript of proceedings of hearing dated 1/22/01, pp. 29, 31-33.) The number of parking tickets that were voided by the SPA for those vehicles which had been denominated as undercover totaled 1,722 in 1998 and 1,831 in 1999. (See transcript of proceedings of hearing dated 2/13/01, pp. 4-6.)

Due to their reported concern regarding the quantity of undercover vehicles and the location of the parking violations, the executive director and solicitor for the SPA approached the new chief county detective, Thomas Dubas, in January 2000 to discuss revision of the undercover vehicle list. As a result of that meeting, “the quantity of vehicles was dramatically reduced,” (see SPA’s answer to The Times’ petition, exhibit A, p. 3), and by letter dated May 25, 2000, Chief Detective Dubas provided an updated list to the SPA which designated three vehicles as undercover. (T.H. dated 1/22/01, p. 33.) Consequently, the number of parking tickets which were [94]*94voided by the SPA for undercover vehicles between May 25,2000 and December 31,2000, decreased to 255. (T.H. dated 2/13/01, p. 5.)

On April 5, 2000, The Times’ managing editor transmitted a written request to the SPA solicitor for a copy of “an apparent agreement between the Scranton Parking Authority and the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office which calls for the authority to excuse parking tickets issued to certain vehicles assigned to the district attorney’s office.” In its correspondence, The Times indicated that it intended “to review this information similar to the way The Times-Tribune recently reviewed parking tickets which were voided by various officials of the City of Scranton. That review, you may recall, resulted in the Parking Authority being reimbursed for tickets which were voided inappropriately.” (See The Times’ petition to obtain access to records, exhibit A.) By letter dated April 6,2000, the SPA solicitor forwarded The Times’ request to the district attorney and advised him that “[b]ecause of the law enforcement and possible security issues involved, the Board of Directors of the Authority has instructed me to request that your office be responsible for responding to this request of the ‘Times-Tribune.’ ” (Id., exhibit B.)

On April 13, 2000, The Times’ managing editor forwarded a supplemental request to the SPA solicitor demanding production of records concerning tickets that were voided for parking violations other than overtime meter offenses. (Id., exhibit C.) The SPA executive director forwarded a detailed reply to The Times on April 24,2000, which concluded with the caveat that “District Attorney Andrew Jarbola has indicated to me that a re[95]*95sponse to your various requests will be forthcoming in the very near future.” (Id., exhibit D, p. 4.) On June 12, 2000, counsel for The Times delivered a letter to the district attorney renewing the demand for certain materials and requesting an immediate response so that “this matter can be resolved without judicial intervention.” (Id., exhibit E.) In the absence of any response, The Times commenced this litigation on July 20, 2000, by filing a petition under the Right-to-Know Act seeking access to the SPA-district attorney’s office records from 1997 to 2000 relating to the foregoing agreement.

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Bluebook (online)
54 Pa. D. & C.4th 90, 2001 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scranton-times-v-scranton-parking-authority-pactcompllackaw-2001.