A PLACE TO PARK

A small but determined group of people who work in downtown Bangor would rather move their cars several times a day or try to outsmart parking enforcement officers instead of putting their vehicles in one of the city’s parking garages. This would be laughable if it didn’t have the potential to drive business away from downtown.

The city has tried for years to come up with ways to encourage downtown offices and business to get their employees to park in a garage or lot. Discounts are offered for companies that buy multiple parking permits. Ad campaigns have run. Still, there are people who don’t get the message, so a city committee is right to propose raising the fines for repeat offenders.

According to Bangor Police Department records, 150 drivers tallied more than 10 parking offenses last year. Ten people got more than 40 parking tickets and two got 67 tickets.

The fine for staying in an on-street parking space for more than the allowed time – usually an hour or two – is $10, no matter how many tickets a person gets. So, the person who got 67 tickets was fined $670. Permits to park in city lots range from $300 to $780 a year. Many of the worst violators reportedly have permits to park in the city lots, which despite the perception that they’re located in Piscataquis County are all about a two-minute walk from most downtown buildings.

Like other vehicular violations, fines should increase with subsequent tickets. A city committee proposed that fines for the 11th and 12th tickets would jump to $25. Tickets in excess of 12 would carry a $50 fine.

These may or not be the right numbers, but the point is that the fines should be large enough to get people to park in the lots rather than moving their cars every two hours or wiping away the chalk used by parking enforcement officials to keep track of how long a vehicle has been in a space. The increased revenue from higher fines could be used to lower parking permit prices so cost is not an obstacle to getting more people to park in lots and garages.

Employers can also help by stressing to their workers that if they take up nearby parking spaces, customers can’t park there. If a customer can’t find a place to park, that is a lost sale. Employers, especially those that issue permits to park in the garage, could ask workers why they have to leave the building every two hours.

One thing that should not be changed is the warning that is issued the first time someone stays in a spot too long. Many of these are issued to out-of-town visitors who should not be scared away from downtown. Including a message about the availability of parking in city lots could included in these warnings.