Public-service announcement! The city of St. Louis is going to start enforcing parking-meter violations downtown on Saturdays effective July 1, officials announced today.
That means folks parking downtown will be required to pay the meters between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Previously, parking division officials had not ticketed cars at expired meters on Saturday when drivers technically could park free for two hours. The city's parking commission voted unanimously to change this policy in May.
"We did it for consistency," St. Louis treasurer Tishaura Jones tells Daily RFT, pointing out that this aligns downtown rules with the rest of the city.
See also: - Parking Meters That Accept Credit Cards? St. Louis Launches Pilot - Opening Day: No Free Parking...And the Police Are Watching You!
Enforcement officers will issue warning notices during the first two weekends in July in order to allow time to adjust to the change, the treasurer's office says.
Parking at an expired meter results in a $10 ticket. As we noted when the city announced it would not give out free parking on Opening Day, a $10 ticket is actually not that bad of a deal for a day at Busch Stadium, especially compared to some nearby garage prices.
Here's the full announcement from Jones' office:
Effective July 1, 2013, the Parking Division will begin enforcing parking violations, including expired meters, in Downtown St. Louis on Saturdays. Accordingly, Downtown patrons will be required to pay for using parking meters on Saturdays from 8:00am-7:00pm. The Parking Commission of the City of St. Louis voted unanimously to change this policy during its monthly meeting held May 9, 2013. This change in policy is necessary in order to apply consistent enforcement policies across the city.In order to adjust to the change, enforcement officers will issue warning notices during the first two weekends in July.
Downtown is currently the only area of the city without Saturday enforcement.
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