Hey, you! The one with all the parking tickets!
You know who you are, the one with 10 little orange envelopes and tickets crumpled up in your passenger seat.
The one with all the parking tickets.
Except you’re not “the one.”
There are many of us.
In fact, there were...
26,159 unpaid tickets in Columbia in the past year, amounting to...
$293,097 in parking debts owed to the city, not including late fees.
The city issued...
129,354 parking citations last year, bringing in...
$1.8 million in revenue for the city.
Comparatively, the city took in...
$2.2 million in money fed to parking meters.
But let’s face it – the meters, and even the tickets, are a necessary evil. They do have a purpose, after all.
“It’s not about the revenue,” said John Spade, the city’s parking director. “If you didn’t have citations and didn’t enforce the meters, people would ignore the regulations on the meters. And the most important regulation on the meter is not putting time on it or money. It’s how long you can stay at the meter so that we create the turnover so that all of us can go and park relatively close to a business we’re going to.”
Reach Ellis at (803) 771-8307.
EXTENDED HOURS: Could that meter last until 11 p.m.?
With turnover in mind, the city is looking at options for extending meter enforcement hours downtown.
John Spade, the city’s parking director, said everyone needs to have a shot at a space. Right now, parking monitors don’t enforce city meter regulations downtown after 6 p.m. and on weekends.
Look for City Council to take up the discussion soon.