Examining the spatial distribution of parking tickets in San Francisco neighborhoods: An overlooked form of urban inequality?

ABSTRACT

Parking citations are among the most common minor offenses, which can result in millions of dollars in revenue each year for cities. However, it is an open question whether the spatial distribution of parking citations is equitable in terms of neighborhoods’ racial/ethnic composition and economic standing. To the extent that parking citations are issued in nonwhite or low-income neighborhoods, this would represent a form of urban inequality. Thus, for the present study, we assess this understudied proposition by collecting data on neighborhoods in San Francisco, California, and estimating a series of negative binomial regression models. Although we find that measures of nonwhite ethnicities are non-significant in relation to all types of parking citations, we do find evidence that low-income neighborhoods have significantly higher rates of both street cleaning and metered parking citations, in comparison to high-income neighborhoods. We also determine that the effect of neighborhood income is moderated by the concentration of certain ethnicities. The implications of these findings for urban sociology and public policy are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Parking fines
• spatial inequality
• urban sociology
• neighborhood effects
• urban political economy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanfranciscocitycalifornia,US/PST045221.

2. https://datasf.org/opendata/.

3. https://data.sfgov.org/Transportation/SFMTA-Parking-Citations/ab4h-6ztd.

4. We also estimated sensitivity models in which we accounted for income, % homeowners, and % aged 15–29 using 1.5-mile and 1-mile distance thresholds, respectively. The results remain substantively the same; for example, see the models in Appendix A that use a 1-mile threshold instead of a 2.5-mile threshold.

5. Workers in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $41.63 in May 2021, which is significantly less than the $85 fine for violating street cleaning regulations.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James C. Wo

James C. Wo is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Iowa, and a senior research fellow at the University of Iowa Public Policy Center. His research interests include neighborhoods and crime, spatial inequality, local institutions and organizations, land uses, and quantitative research methods.

Young-An Kim

Young-An Kim is an assistant professor in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University. His research interests focus on various areas such as neighborhoods and crime, criminology of place, immigration and crime, and geo-spatial analysis. Besides criminology, he is interested in sociology of health, urban sociology, and quantitative research methods.

Sarah E. Malone

Sarah E. Malone is a graduate student in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Iowa. Her research interests include the sociology of crime and deviance, spatial inequality, the social determinants of health, and substance use.