silkyzephyr writes: On Monday morning September 9, a Charlottesville citizen sat vigil on a car parked illegally in a newly-created police-only parking space, demanding the return of public parking. The sign on his car’s windshield said: “An Act of Civil Disobedience at Mr. Jefferson’s Courthouse.” “The Sheriff’s Office has been trying to grab this parking from us for years,” he said. “They took advantage of the confusion created by the courthouse renovation to try grabbing it again.”
He moved his car only after City Traffic Engineer David Beardsley personally came to the courthouse and agreed to change the signs. The City has now agreed to return two hour public parking to the west side of Jefferson Street, and to limit the hours of police-only spaces so shoppers and church-goers can park there evenings and weekends.
As of today (Tuesday) the signs have not changed. It is unclear whether cars parked in what is currently a parking “twilight zone” without any governing parking regulations will be ticketed.
Because of the new police-only parking, the entirety of Jefferson street was devoid of cars on Saturday, and local businesses were starved of customers. A passerby noting the new signs called them “absurd,” and remarked “this really is not good for the downtown.”
“Thank you for standing up for us,” said local business owner Candace DeLoach to the protestor. The problem pointed to by silkyzephyr’s story is one that the city has failed to resolve for years. As public parking spaces are slowly taken away, new ones are not being created. What’s to be done?
this whole area is screwy. First we have a problem with traffic. Why? It is because we are afraid to pave some roads with different routes for people who don’t live in Charlottesville and using HAVE TO USE 29 because we don’t have a bypass. Second, we have a problem with parking. I know for a fact I don’t look the downtown area not because what it has. It is because of what it doesn’t have "PARKING". I know I quit one good job because every day I had to pay a meter 2 dollars to have the honor of working downtown. So I think I was spending 40 dollars just to work downtown. Now I know why bleeding hearts care about the living wage. It is because half of their wages are going to parking.
TSK TSK
I need to learn to press the preview buttom. OKay and HAVE TO USE 29 (no using) + I know for a fact I don’t LIKE (not look) the downtown.
yes I am a product of Albemarle High School. Look mommy, I can spell.
There have always been "police-only" spaces around the courthouse – it sounds like there are more all of a sudden. It makes perfect sense to have one or two spots nearest the back entrance reserved for Sheriff’s cars and vans involved in transporting prisoners – pretty hard to argue with that logistical and public safety need.
However, it’s a little bit insulting to reserve all the other spaces for cops. The implication is that their time and convenience is of greater importance than everybody else’s, and that their appearance in court is more critical to our society than anybody else’s.
A similar situation exists at City Hall, where spaces along 7th street are reserved for cops. Heaven forbid they should be asked to park among the rest of us.
Unfortunately, since the city’s leaders aren’t generally held accountable for their decisions and actions, it takes public displays like this to get their attention.
City engineers have now replaced the police-only parking signs (Tuesday at 12:20pm).
The new signs mix two hour public parking at both ends of Jefferson Street with police-only parking in the middle. All but four spaces are open to the public evenings and weekends.
Local business owners expressed their appreciation for the change.
Second, we have a problem with parking. I know for a fact I don’t look the downtown area not because what it has. It is because of what it doesn’t have "PARKING". I know I quit one good job because every day I had to pay a meter 2 dollars to have the honor of working downtown. So I think I was spending 40 dollars just to work downtown. Now I know why bleeding hearts care about the living wage. It is because half of their wages are going to parking.
It gets worse, friend. The city just replaced the downtown parking meters with all new wizz-bang digital parking meters, but they come at twice the cost per hour – a whopping $.50 (compared to our old quarter-an-hour deal), and they don’t take dimes or nickels anymore. That’s four dollars per eight hour day, five days a week, fifty weeks a year – a cool Grand annually. Bastards.
How Officers avoid tickets when they park
their private vehicles illegally.
They are advised to place their Police Hats, caps
or somthing with the Police logo in the seat or on the dash board, in plain view. That way the
CSO (community service officer) the chalking
enforcer will not ticket their illegally parked vehicles.
TRUST THIS IS TRUE… (BEEN THERE DONE THAT)