The city is working with downtown groups to alleviate ongoing parking problems that have reportedly worsened within the past several weeks in the Union Square District.
Downtown property/business owners and groups have largely attributed the problem to the absence of a downtown parking enforcement attendant and last week, they brought the matter to the attention of Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer.
Former downtown parking attendant Tanzi Shinpoch was terminated from her position Jan. 22.
“She was just not working in the best interest of this city or City Hall.” Smith-Creer said. “We were getting complaints about her, not just about downtown parking but also with a lot of odds and ends around City Hall.”
The position has been vacant since then and Smith-Creer city officials were keeping an eye on how the downtown parking situation was working out while trying to figure out the best way to move forward with the issue.
Meanwhile, downtown groups have said that “it has become a madhouse,” with people taking advantage of the suspension of enforcement within the controlled parking zone.
Exacerbating the problem, they said, is the start of construction on a new boutique hotel on the site that formerly served as the parking lot for the BancorpSouth office building and other businesses in the area of Washington and Cedar.
Consequently, multiple downtown parking spaces have been eliminated and an influx of construction workers have created more traffic downtown and placed a tighter squeeze on available parking space.
Downtown property/business owners and representatives from the Downtown Business Association, Main Street El Dorado and the Murphy Arts District met with Smith-Creer Feb. 28 to discuss the matter.
Parking has long been an issue in downtown El Dorado, with a variety of complaints arising in the nearly 35 years since efforts began to revitalize the city’s Central Business District.
A lack of adequate parking space, downtown workers taking convenient parking spaces from shoppers and visitors and grievances about parking enforcement, including bias and poor performance by parking attendants, have recurred over the years.
Several measures have been discussed and/or implemented within the past three decades, including the adoption of a city ordinance to establish a controlled parking zone.
Downtown groups and Smith-Creer revisited those discussions during the Feb. 21 meeting, pointing to suggestions about parking meters — which dotted the city’s downtown before being removed in the 1980s — and a parking garage.
Other ideas that were bandied about included installing a paid parking bank downtown, assigning an El Dorado Police Department patrol officer downtown and reaching out to downtown churches about the use of their parking lots for free parking for downtown visitors.
Anne James, of the DBA and owner of Sports Alley, inquired about the lot just east of First United Methodist Church on Hill Avenue, noting that the lot, which has a pavilion that was built by the city, is hardly used during non-church service hours.
Smith-Creer later spoke with police Chief Kenny Hickman, who said the police department does not have the manpower to commit a full-time officer downtown, but he would look into using officers from the EPD Reserve Unit.
The downtown group said a uniformed officer would not only help out with parking enforcement, but would also serve as a deterrent for other problems, including shoplifting and vehicle break-ins, downtown.
Smith-Creer noted that installing parking meters would mean tearing up downtown sidewalks, which have been installed within the past six years as part of an ongoing improvement project.
The mayor and the downtown group noted that paid parking banks seem to work in larger cities, where drivers use a kiosk to pay for parking in spaces with corresponding numbers.
Such a program would require public education, Smith-Creer said.
Beth Brumley, executive director of Main Street El Dorado, and Rexayne Tribble, of the DBA and owner of All About Flowers, said they would like to use the city’s trolley bus to ferry downtown visitors from distant parking spaces.
“But I don’t know where to send them to park in the first place to have the trolley come and pick them up,” Brumley said.
The group noted that while the parking enforcement attendant helped to serve as a deterrent for parking violations, some people had figured out how to take advantage of Shinpoch’s daily schedule.
“They had it timed. They knew when she would come and they would move their cars,” said Dick James, downtown property owner and former member of the El Dorado Historic District Commission.
Smith-Creer added that Shinpoch usually trekked downtown at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. each day to mark tires.
A three-hour parking limit is set for the controlled zone from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday — Friday, with the exception of legal holidays.
Members of the downtown groups said people, usually downtown employees, would park within the zone at 8 a.m. and move their vehicles to another spot after lunch to avoid getting a citation.
In other cases, people reported receiving parking tickets, even though they had not reached or exceeded the three-hour time limit, the group said.
Misunderstandings about the citation process and payment of fines also led to complaints, the group said.
“It started off as a $10 ticket and ended up with people owing thousands of dollars in fines and court costs and having warrants issued for their arrest,” Smith-Creer said.
Robert Edmonds, director of public works, said the City Shop could look into adding the hours for controlled parking onto existing parking signs downtown.
City officials and downtown groups agreed to continue working to find a solution to the problem.
Zone
Areas within the downtown, controlled parking zone include:
• Both sides of Washington between Oak and Cedar.
• Both sides of Jefferson between Oak and Cedar.
• Both sides of Elm between Cleveland and Hill.
• Both sides of Main between Cleveland and Hill.
• Both sides of Hill between Cedar and Elm.
• Both sides of Cedar between Cleveland and Hill.
• The south side of Main between Hill and Jackson.
• The south side of Main between Cleveland and South West Avenue.
People who are cited for violating the downtown parking ordinance have 21 days to pay their fine before being required to appear in 35th Judicial District Court and facing additional costs and, possibly, more penalties.
The court date appears on the parking ticket, and violators receive a reminder in the mail about their court date.
If tickets are not paid prior to the court date, defendants will be subject to court costs, in addition to the delinquent fine for the parking violation.
Defendants could also face additional penalties in court.
After 21 days, violators must pay tickets and court costs at EPD headquarters.
The fine for overtime parking within the controlled parking zone starts at $10 per violation and increases with subsequent violations.
Multiple violations could also result in the city placing a tire boot on the offending vehicle and the vehicle being towed.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.