Portland plans aggressive crackdown on parking, vehicle registration scofflaws

After several years of slapdash enforcement, Portland officials say they’re ready to tame a “shocking” explosion of lapsed vehicle registrations and parking infractions permitted under their watch.

A purported crackdown will commence Monday when enforcement officers hit neighborhood streets to dole out fines for expired tags, missing license plates, wrong-way parking and blocking views at intersections, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

The bureau’s roster of parking agents — slated to grow by nearly two dozen to a total of 80 in the coming months — will also begin booting cars belonging to serial violators, the agency said.

“We’re trying to get back to a culture of compliance, to get people in the habit of following the rules,” said bureau spokesperson Dylan Rivera.

“The lack of people paying at parking meters, the lack of registered vehicles on the road, the sheer number of cars with no license plates has been shocking to the public and to us,” Rivera continued.

A driving force behind the frequent and flagrant rule breaking? The Transportation Bureau’s own lax enforcement of those rules, which cratered during the pandemic and has been slow to pick back up.

For example, the bureau issued nearly 21,000 citations for expired vehicle registrations in the eight months between July 1, 2019, and Feb. 28, 2020, records show. The number dipped to 24 during the same eight-month period a year later amid the pandemic before rising to 4,000 between July 1, 2022, and Feb. 28, 2023, and nearly 13,000 between July 1, 2022, and Feb. 28, 2023.

Recent hiring freezes and other hurdles have further hampered the agency’s ability to ding violators, it said.

Portland currently has 58 parking enforcement officers, down from 72 in 2019, Rivera said. However, the City Council this spring authorized funding for an additional 22 officers. The city will begin filling those positions in the coming weeks.

Transportation officials say the ramped-up efforts may also be a financial boon for the cash-strapped bureau. They estimate it could generate an additional $5 million in revenue to help prevent future layoffs, pave streets and respond to other traffic safety requests.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh covers Portland city government and politics, with a focus on accountability and watchdog reporting.

Reach him at 503-294-7632

Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh

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