Baltimore residents respond to city's 24-hour parking enforcement
Baltimore residents say parking in the city is a challenge. Now, the city is constantly monitoring where you find a spot.
This week, the Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT) launched 24-hour parking enforcement to reduce traffic congestion and boost safety.
"It can be a little bit tricky to find a good parking spot during the busy hours," said Baltimore resident Tony Calice.
As of Thursday morning, the transportation agency has issued more than 3,700 citations and has towed roughly 128 cars.
Overnight parking enforcement will target habitual parking offenders, including commercial vehicles parked illegally in residential areas, vehicles violating residential permit parking, scofflaw offenders and other traffic management issues, according to city officials.
Abandoned vehicles could be cited and towed during the overnight enforcement period, BCDOT officials said.
"Parking down in Fells Point is horrible," Baltimore resident Edward Riles said.
Data-driven strategies
BCDOT Director Veronica McBeth said the agency has been doing a lot of traffic enforcement and is now taking an equitable approach.
"Cars that have been abandoned in their neighborhood, people who have made service requests for people to remove cars that have expired tags, that are illegally parked," McBeth said.
BCDOT will use data-driven strategies to effectively guide safety deployments and resource allocations. Real-time data analysis will help to identify high-risk areas, improve response times, and prioritize enforcement or intervention strategies.
"Keeping our streets safe is a 24-hour job, and moving parking enforcement operations to 24 hours is necessary to give our communities the attention they deserve," said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. "Transportation Enforcement Officers being cross-trained, overnight towing services, and more focused enforcement is going to help deliver a more effective and responsive enforcement program and give our teams the tools they need to get the job done."
McBeth says they're already seeing improvements through this initiative.
"This time last year, so say March 12 last year, we've seen already a 32% increase in citations over last year," McBeth said. "So, I definitely feel like we're moving in the right direction."
"Heavy price to pay"
Baltimore residents told WJZ they try to abide by city parking guidelines, but city officials said others don't, which is why they've implemented 24-hour enforcement.
"You have to do a lot of reading to see if you have a permit," Calice said. "There's a lot of signs saying you can and can't park."
Some residents, however, say they aren't too happy about the around-the-clock surveillance.
"I understand what they're trying to do but it's already hard enough for us trying to park down here," Riles said.
"If it has something to do with making the city safer, I'm for it. If it's just for inconveniencing someone, I would not like that," Calice said.
Some residents worry about visitors who may mistakenly break the rules.
"A heavy price to pay, the inconvenience of having your car taken from you," Calice said. "It's almost like your car is legally stolen."
