Wilmington is finally launching a way to appeal parking tickets online.
Unlike many cities, getting a traffic ticket appealed in Wilmington first means going through the city's own Civil Appeals Office rather than going through the courts. But that still meant mailing in a statement or showing up in person.
Now, the city has launched a way to submit appeals online through the city’s website. The online appeals process works very similar to the traditional methods, but makes it easier for both city staff and residents.
The city was planning on implementing this new program last year, but it was put on pause because of COVID-19.
In a statement, Mayor Mike Purzycki says another benefit to the online appeals is it records all the interactions between city staff and appellants, making it easier to track cases.
City officials note this appeals process doesn’t replace appealing a ticket through the courts. While most cities make you take your complaint directly to court, Wilmington has an office, seperate from the parking division that looks at appeals first.
Offering an appeals process through the Civil Office means the city can be made aware of parking issues more quickly, such as if an appellate notes a parking sign was missing, the city knows to replace the sign, and can dismiss the ticket.
Roman Battaglia is a corps member withReport for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
