Denver drivers trying to fight parking tickets are finding themselves in a very literal line of fire: the queue at the downtown courthouse. After the city shut down its online parking ticket dispute portal last fall, people who once clicked through appeals from home are now trekking to the courthouse and waiting it out.
The portal’s closure, part of budget cuts that also wiped out the county court’s Parking Magistrate’s Office, shifted many online disputes into in-person final hearings and helped create the long waits. Critics warn that the hassle alone will discourage people from contesting tickets. City officials insist a replacement process is on the way, but for now, drivers are carrying the load.
Records obtained by KDVR show how sharply things changed once the portal went dark. Ninety-three people had final hearings in October 2025, and that number jumped to 145 in December 2025. Earlier in 2025, final hearings were rare by comparison…