Not long ago a friend of mine who lives on the Downtown Plaza was hit up for a $35.00 Fine for parking in a One Hour spot for more than an hour. In fact, several cars Downtown were hit with the same fine.
However, here's the problem. The tickets were written at and around 2:30 AM. My friend called the Police Officer the next day to contest the ticket and when he arrived he stood there and said, what does that sign say. He explained how this was 2:30 in the morning and that there is NO violation after 4:30 PM. The Officer said, the sign says one hour, I'll see you in Court.
I did some digging into this and there is absolutely no doubt, the Officer is 100% wrong. While so many of us are doing whatever we can to help boost our local economic and development in Downtown Salisbury, this is exactly the reason why we continue to hit a brick wall.
It goes even further. Did you know that if you are a SU Student living Downtown you get a special discount of 50% off parking if you park in the City Garage. Now I'm not sure just how many Students live Downtown but why not EVERYONE who lives Downtown? It makes no sense. Its not as if the City's Parking Garage is filled to capacity, not anywhere near.
It's simple things like a special discount that could encourage people to want to live Downtown. Why stop there. Why not come up with a plan for all Downtown residents to have a place to put their daily trash. In most cases, there is no place for these residents to discard their trash, so it ends up filling the cans daily on the Plaza.
In the mean time, the SPD needs to stop writing tickets and the citizens need to be informed that this is wrong. The meters are only in effect from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
10 comments:
Joe, I live downtown as well (the picture posted is one of my neighbors) and I got a similar ticket just this morning. Yet I was under the impression the meters were only in effect from 9-5 (my boyfriend and I have had no problems leaving our cars at the metered sites until nine am). I haven't sprung for the parking pass because I work a regular 9-5 job and haven't felt the need for it. I've tried to make the best of living downtown but between the parking and the underage club that keeps us up all hours of the night and the kids who destroy everything down there, I think I'll be looking elsewhere when our lease is up next year. I read all your posts and myself have tried to think of solutions for downtown, but I just don't know. It's truly a shame its in the shape it is. I thought maybe more housing would be a good idea but things like this will obviously deter future potential residents. I was in downtown Pocomoke today to take my daughter to the delmarva discovery center and noticed they have no parking meters at all. Our city really needs to get it together.
JH
Is there a section of the charter that regulates this or is it the city code, etc.? Discounts for parking in the garage shold not be offered. I think that parking there is $30 a month. The expenses need to be covered by the rates. If someone is getting 50% off, then others are havig to cover that in one way or another.
Not sure I understand. Was the driver ticketed in a metered space, or in a space that a sign said one hour parking?
Joe, I live downtown also, just to clarify the downtown parking situation. The meters are in affect from 8am-5pm Monday Thu Friday. I can understand getting a ticket within those times. On the plaza(one way area) however there are 6 parking spots all witch have a meter in addition to a one hour parking sign above the parking area. The problem lies with that sign being ambiguous. From living downtown i can tell you, the people that live downtown really support the area with a few others. For me, its the mind set, as a resident I feel as I'm a burden more so then someone who is supporting the area. I can only speak for my self but I would like to see some type of solution, instead of "HEY GUYS LETS TICKET THEM UNTIL THEY LEAVE"
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I would follow that up with a civil lawsuit against the city for frivolous issuing of a ticket and abuse of police powers.
Money talks, and it talks both ways.
Handing out parking tickets at 2:30 AM? Wasn't there any drug and prositiute areas to patrol?
Of course not, 7:58. Salisbury is an All-American City.
How about the police looking accross the street at the City Police Station they may find drug dealers selling crack but I guess thats okay.
Good luck in court. I received a ticket for a parking violation dated the day after the ticket (ie, "tomorrow.") The city police department would not void the ticket that day, and I could not get any officer to sign any documentation stating that they had seen the ticket the day before it was issued (even the parking police supervisor). The judge did not like my side of the story without "proof" and i had to pay the fine and court costs. I guess I should have mailed the ticket to myself that day in order to get the postmark the day before the ticket was "issued."
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