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Crime & Safety

City Considers Ending Free Parking Near Piedmont Park

Councilman Michael Julian Bond is proposing an ordinance to end free two-hour parking on some residential streets.

Free two-hour parking on neighborhood streets near  during peak hours could become a thing of the past. 

"You have people who are basically abusing the privilege to park there for free for more than two hours," said Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond (Post 1 At Large), author of an ordinance that proposes to end the free two-hour parking.

In some neighborhoods, it's a little-advertised fact that there are always two hours of free on-street parking for visitors to streets that require residential permits, such as Myrtle and 9th streets, Charles Allen Drive and Peachtree Circle.

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In Ansley Park, the signs mention the freebie; Midtown signs keep quiet about it. Those two areas, plus Home Park, are among the dozen city neighborhoods that require permits for on-street parking on some streets during certain hours.

Each neighborhood picks the twelve-hour time period that their street is open to public parking, as well as the hours that require a residential permit. For example, parking restrictions along Myrtle Street  apply from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Sunday. 

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Bond's ordinance would apply to all 12 neighborhoods that have residential permits, leaving parking only to residents during private hours.

"My e-mail is inundated with pictures about how people cannot park in their neighborhood, their specific area, after they paid money for a permit," said the councilman.

"I need your help to get rid of this two-hour free parking thing on 9th Street," Midtown resident Nancy Bowers told a May 11 meeting of the Transportation Committee of the Atlanta City Council. During fine weather and festival season, it's so hard to find parking near her house, Bowers said, that residents need to find a space early on Friday. Often, they keep their car in that spot all weekend.

"We're bringing our groceries from five blocks," Bowers said. 

Enforcement of the two-hour rule is labor intensive — it requires someone to chalk a parked car's tire then circle around in two hours to make sure the car is gone. Park Atlanta, a private enforcement company, has backed down neighborhood enforcement, Bond said, because it's not contracted to work residential areas.

Yet Councilman H. Lamar Willis (Post 3 At Large) said enforcement is the key: "If you don't have enforcement, you're going to have people parking there illegally."

In cities like Pittsburg and Boston, he said, people have learned to follow the rules. "Nobody's ever going to be happy about parking tickets and boots," Willis said, "but the catch is it forces people to do the right thing."

Midtown resident Dana Persons said neighbors really want to get rid of the troublesome free parking altogether. However, she also cautioned "blanket legislation is not the way to go." Just as each neighborhood decides its open and closed hours, each neighborhood may also want to do something different with the two-hour freebie.

Her part of Midtown shuts down public parking overnight on safety grounds, so everyone can park close to their door, for example. Home Park discourages Georgia Tech parkers by keeping parking closed during the day.

The bill will now move to Bond's subcommittee on parking, where he expects amendments.  The hearing will be in June. The date is yet to be confirmed.

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