From the Source

Center City Crackdown: Watch where you park

News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.

Center City Crackdown: Watch where you park

POSTED: Monday, May 11, 2009, 9:35 AM

Inquirer staff report:

A parking enforcement crackdown is supposed to be under way in Center City tday.

Announced on Friday, officials are targeting vehicles that are double parked, sneaking a stay in a loading zone or blocking an intersection.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Inquirer Online Desk @ 9:35 AM Permalink | 44 comments

Comments (44)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:37 AM, 05/11/2009

Good! Learn to follow the rules, people!

— FMT

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:56 AM, 05/11/2009

'bout time...

— Sillimish

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:10 AM, 05/11/2009

bgyrl, take 2 of your little pink pills and wash down with some OJ. The parking authority doesn't have responsibility for cracking down on guns and repeaters, thats the police and the DA, and maybe some of the judges. The PPA hound the parking miscreants who pretend they don't know the rules and park anywhere, and then complain that the PPA is too aggressive in ticketing. Keep at it PPA, I say boot 'em.

— ruttrho

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:13 AM, 05/11/2009

it seems they started the crackdown yesterday. we parked in a "bus zone" near the art museum to participate in the race for the cure. the buses had been detoured because of the parkway event - so it seemed ok. we returned to a $51 ticket. yikes. to me this seems unreasonable - to target so many temporary event goers - DURING the event, especially when there is such an extreme lack of legal" parking. were we as "bad" as the folks that clog center city, stopping wherever the please?

— schultzy

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:26 AM, 05/11/2009

There are thousands of parking spots in garages and lots within a 5-10 minute location of any point in Center City. If $10-$20 is such a huge dent on your annual income, you don't have to come to the city.

— CrayzeeGuy

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:32 AM, 05/11/2009

Is that crackdown also going to be in south Philly? I just drove down that way and the streets look exactly the same - with about half the cars "double parked on an empty space" (SouthPhillyese for parking a car four feet away from the curb) and about 600 cars parked on the Broad Street median strip.

— DonQ

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:36 AM, 05/11/2009

See the way the city works now is that they know most surburbanites and people who live on the outer edges of the city avoid going into Center City at all costs. But every now and then they are forced to go in, and they will probably have a miserable time anyway. So the city needs to make sure they remove as much money as possible from the visitors' pockets. And parking tickets are a great way to do that. Maybe if 90% of Septa's fleet did not smell like tinkle, more people would be willing to take Septa into Center City. And maybe if the buses ran on a schedule. How about Nutter and other public officials start taking public transportation around the city? All of the spots around City Hall are reserved for City Officials, and there is no parking around there. So I guess it is just fine for City Employees to drive into the city and have a parking spot waiting for them. But mean while Mayor Marvin the Martian can get on his soapbox and tell us how we should all use public transportation.

— AreaMan

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:44 AM, 05/11/2009

schultzy, fact is that you were illegally parked. It may seem unreasonable to you, but it's actually a lot better for everyone when all of the rules are applied consistently. I recently got a $51 for parking at a corner for 10 minutes while I grabbed a sandwich. I can't complain, because I was illegally parked, even if it was only for 10 minutes. PPA has no way of knowing if I was going to be there for 10 minutes or 10 hours.

— Politburo

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:50 AM, 05/11/2009

by no means am i suggesting that i would not come downtown just because i got a ticket. For us, it wasn't the cost of a parking gararge, but rather the lack of available parking near the event. the roads were closed leading to the new museum parking garage, and the lot in the neighborhood was full. remember, the event was in the city, so we have no choice regarding "not having to come downtown" it just seems to me that suspending regulations to reasonably accomodate for legitimate use of available space makes sense. is that so crayzee?

— schultzy

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:54 AM, 05/11/2009

I'm calling for a crackdown on shoddy reporting with typos.

— mantua633

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:01 AM, 05/11/2009

blocking an active bus zone just so you can get a sandwich doesn't seem comparable to parking in a bus zone for a sunday morning fund raiser while the buses are not running. the bus zone is designated to make sure that waiting passengers can safely board our buses. when the buses aren't running, no passengers are put at risk and 3 or 4 cars could park in each such zone all around the route. as for the PA not knowing whether the car would be there for 10 minutes or ten hours, one would have to assume (or hope) they know there is a huge event 2 blocks away - and that the buses are detoured. if a car is parked in a bus zone once the buses are back on route, tow it. what's unrasonable about that?

— schultzy

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:09 AM, 05/11/2009

Schultzy I agree with you 110%. There is no reason for them to ticket your car in a Bus Zone when there are no buses currently running due to the Breast Cancer Walk. This city needs to prioritize.. parking tickets and cell phones while driving are a waste of tax payers' money. Maybe then can divert some funding into cheaper parking options downtown, as opposed to continually enforcing absurd parking restrictions.

— amd804

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:18 AM, 05/11/2009

Cracking down on double parkers in center city is fine, as long as you equally target the double and triple parkers and south philly. Or are the politicians too much in charge to actually enforce the laws?

— snjgwmc