🚀 go-pugleaf

Dave Madigan           (KGN9966@AOL.COM)
400 Mendocino Avenue
Santa Rosa, Ca. 95401-6388
707-542-7541 or Fax 707-542-7105

May 30, 1995

Dear Fellow Taxpayers,

Some of you may remember me from the infamous "Parking Meter Petition"
that I circulated just over a year ago.  That petition, which received
2,287 signatures, asked the City of Santa Rosa to make several changes in
the way that parking is handled in Downtown Santa Rosa and in Railroad
Square.  The Santa Rosa City Council responded by instituting a "kinder,
gentler" policy towards writing parking tickets.  However, the five goals
of that petition were turned down by the City Council.

Some of the comments I received in relation to that petition regarded the
number of issues that one petition attempted to address.  With this in
mind, I am proposing a NEW petition drive that has a more "narrow" goal.

My idea is to bypass the City Council and attempt to qualify for the
ballot a proposal that would cut by 50% the parking ticket fines that are
controlled by the City of Santa Rosa.  The second part of the proposal
would require the City of Santa Rosa to submit any future parking ticket
fine increases to a vote of the people.

The people who get parking tickets in Downtown and Railroad Square are fed
up with feeding the bureaucracy.  Do you realize that the money from
parking tickets goes directly into the general fund?  The Santa Rosa City
Council ignored us when we asked them to lower the parking ticket fines. 
When was the last time a pay raise for senior City staff was ignored?

Would you vote for cutting the parking ticket fines and requiring a vote
before the City could raise the fines in the future?  Would you be willing
to help make this idea a reality by circulating a petition and gathering
signatures?  Would you be willing to donate money or services towards this
goal?  Do you have comments or suggestions that would improve this
proposal?

A project of this magnitude is a lot more than I could do by myself.  I am
sending out this letter to ask for help.  If enough people come forward to
help, we will move forward with this project.  If there is not enough
support, the idea will stop here, with this letter.  The choice is now
yours.

Thank You For Your Time.



Dave Madigan           (KGN9966@AOL.COM)
Madigan's Stationery