Starting Tuesday, stricter enforcement of downtown's two-hour zones targets those who try to beat the ticket.
By JON WILSON
Published January 18, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Parking enforcement gets tougher downtown starting Tuesday.
Special targets are drivers who play the beat-the-ticket game, officials say.
Enforcement officers will be looking for motorists who park in two-hour slots, then move their vehicles just a space or two away, parking manager Phil Oropesa said.
The rule is that in a two-hour zone, a vehicle cannot stay in the same block of one street for longer than two hours.
After moving, you can park again only after driving through an intersection to a different block.
So you can't back out and make a U-turn to park across the street, Oropesa said.
But he said it is okay to drive around the corner to find a new space.
Many people who regularly park downtown for long periods - workers, for example - probably have used ploys to avoid getting parking tickets.
Usually it involves exercising exquisite timing to enjoy the full two hours of parking permitted, then scrambling to beat the folks who leave the dreaded, lime-green citations that cost $17.50.
Placed under a windshield wiper and visible a half-block away, they symbolize a lost contest - at least for the motorist.
"We've had them rolling back and forth (in a space) to get the chalk off their tires," Oropesa said. "Or just trading spaces with a co-worker."
Chalk-marking tires has been the traditional method to track how long vehicles stay in a space. For this effort, officers literally may stake out a troublesome block so they can time how long cars stay, parking enforcement coordinator Earl Cooley said.
Late last week, city-distributed fliers showed up on the windows of vehicles parked near the new University Village, which has a Publix. They carried a warning about the pending stepup in enforcement.
"We wanted to educate people as to what is wrong," Oropesa said.
The crackdown came about because merchants complained that motorists - perhaps employees of downtown businesses - have been occupying spaces near their businesses for long periods, sometimes moving every two hours to a nearby space. The practice can tie up spaces that customers could use, the merchants say.
Though the new enforcement effort will concentrate on the University Village area, it has the potential to cover all of downtown, Oropesa said. The area covers 16th Street to Tampa Bay between Fifth avenues N and S.
