'Slippery slope that will only get more complicated,' fumes resident about paid parking that will 'erode our streets' | 2YJY87S | 2024-04-23 12:08:01
PAID parking will be added to multiple streets in a US city and residents are enraged over the change.
Earlier this week, the city council in Ocean City, Maryland, unanimously decided to add metered parking to two of its busy streets.
"To me, it's a slippery slope that will only get more complicated as we go forward," a resident told local news outlet Ocean City Today-Dispatch.
The change is supposed to allow better turnover at a recreation complex near the downtown streets where the paid parking spots are to be added, according to Ocean City manager Terry McGean.
The city will be adding a total of 51 metered spaces between two downtown streets.
Third Street will get 26 metered spaces and Fourth Street will receive 25 metered spaces.
The new metered parking spots that are to come also mean the removal of a number of parking spots from a nearby road – Chicago Avenue.
Because of this, resident Vince Gisrie asked for the ordinance expanding paid parking to not be passed.
Gisrie reminded the city council of a 2013 petition that forced the repeal of an ordinance that would've allowed additional parking meters to be installed in isolated parts of town.
"It would be the beginning of the erosion of our streets, whereby the town would come back for more streets, more streets over the course of time," he explained.
"In this particular ordinance, I understand you've lost 12 spots, but you're picking up, at least according to the body of the ordinance, 51, or a net gain of about 39."
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> The local driver didn't necessarily mind the town replacing the parking spaces on Chicago Avenue.
He just doesn't want the city council to add additional paid parking spots downtown.
Despite car owners in the community not welcoming the parking changes that are in progress downtown, the council voted 7-0 to approve the ordinance this week.
The council denied a resolution that would mean 24-hour paid parking would be implemented with the new parking spaces.
</div> </div> They proposed for the metered parking to be between 7 am and midnight.
That time period is the same as enforcement hours for street parking throughout the city.
"From an enforcement standpoint," the city council president Matt James started.
"It would be simpler."
McGean said that the city will be adjusting the way drivers park on the streets when they go downtown.
Apparently, there were parallel parking spots on the downtown roads that are going to have new paid spots soon.
"What we did was we changed out parallel parking to be head-in," the Ocean City manager explained.
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