Ticket Happy: DPT Officers Giveth, Taketh Away

Unclog the streets or unclog our coffers? How's about both? SF Weekly went on a ride-along sting operation with Sgt. Patrick Tobin, the SFPD champion of the city's Safe Paths of Travel program. SPOT hands out hefty $622 tickets for code and safety violations at construction sites, from double-parked pick-ups to mislaid traffic cones, from PG&E to the most piddly of roofers -- all seemingly at their sole discretion. The program raised nearly $800,000 last year alone, while the city paid out almost $5 mil in overtime to SFPD on the hunt for violations. Now builders are fighting back -- kind of. A handful of stung street-blockers have filed complaints with the city for "harassment, discrimination and selective enforcement." In response, Sgt. Tobin says he'll take a pay cut 'til all the criticism blows over. So generous!
· Building Overtime [SF Weekly]For more stories from Curbed SF, go to sf.curbed.com.

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