Residents of Allentown, Pennsylvania, expressed outrage after a parking enforcement officer issued tickets to people waiting to pick up free groceries outside a church food bank on Saturday.
Fuente de Vida Church posted a video to Facebook showing a line of cars outside the church. A law enforcement officer is allegedly scanning license plates. In the video, Pastor Alejandro Escamilla explained in Spanish that many of those who were ticketed didn’t understand what was going on at first.
“Some of them don’t speak English, just Spanish. And when they look around and say, ‘What happened? What’s going on?’ They just saw the ticket in the windshield,” Escamilla told the local ABC affiliate.
The nine tickets were later downgraded to warnings once enforcement officers “understood what was going on,” Parking Authority Ted Zeller said, according to Lehigh Valley Live.
“The food drive blocked multiple streets and a local neighbor complained, so the officers acted in response,” Zeller said Monday, per the outlet, though he also told ABC6 that the parking authority “had no business issuing tickets to people waiting in a food line” and that he would not “try to defend it.”
Local restaurant owner, Greenberg Lemus, told the ABC affiliate the problem goes beyond the food bank, claiming that parking enforcement officers frequently issue tickets to suppliers making deliveries at his eatery. Lemus said he pays the tickets himself, but the cost is adding up. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Oklahoma Gov. Stitt Says He Wants To ‘Unlock More Private Schools’ For Religious Families)
“I have paid almost $9,000. Nine-thousand dollars since I first opened in October 2021. If this keeps up, I’m in trouble,” Leemus told ABC6.
“If this continued abuse of power is not addressed and action is not taken, I will be forced to use my powers as Mayor to encourage responsible management of the Allentown Parking Authority,” Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk wrote in a statement Monday.
Mayor Matt Tuerk shares the following message which urges the Allentown Parking Authority to take action to improve the service provided to Allentown residents at its next Board Meeting on Wednesday, April 26: pic.twitter.com/ExNNY3k8pK
— City of Allentown (@AllentownCityPA) April 24, 2023
In response to complaints from residents, Zeller announced Wednesday that the parking authority would no longer conduct 24/7 patrols. Moving forward, officers will patrol from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with no parking patrols on Sundays, The Morning Call reported. The outlet also noted that Allentown’s parking authority has stepped enforcement in the past year, issuing around 26,000 tickets in Jan. 2023 compared to some 12,000 in Jan. 2022.