Friday, June 21, 2013

Parking Meters

One would think that after almost 10 years, the city would change the ordinance regarding parking meter enforcement.  I was under the impression that the ordinance had been changed to Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from the still posted Monday-Saturday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. but the city code still shows Monday through Saturday enforcement. Near as I can tell, the city does not enforce meters after 5 p.m or on Saturday.  However, I still regularly see people putting money in the meters on Saturday.  Just last night I walked up S. Illinois shortly after 5 p.m. and saw someone putting money in a meter by Dairy Queen.

Unlike a lot of people, I am not opposed to the idea of parking meters in downtown, especially in the areas closer to the University, such as the parking lot by 710 Bookstore.  Prior to the meters installation, students would fill the free, convenient parking spots for hours, not leaving any space for people who wanted to shop at 710 or one of the adjacent businesses.  Metering removed that problem, plus money from the meters helps fund resurfacing and maintenance of public parking spaces.

However, I do think it time to update the ordinance to reflect current enforcement, or, if the ordinance was changes a number of years, as I thought it was, update the city code and signs to reflect this.

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