| In our community the Post Office is across the street from a sports complex. We have the same problem here in that you can't get a parking spot at the PO when a sporting event is taking place. In our situation it doesn't do any good to write tickets to those cars because they will still be there and taking up those spaces until the event is over. Other people won't know or realize the cars have been ticketed and will think that it is okay to park there the next time there is an event. It's the "masses" that need to be educated about the parking situation and not just the half dozen people who got caught that day.
The "best" solution here is to tow off the vehicles to an Impound. That frees up the space immediately and usually if it is in the middle of a game or event, no new attendee's will park there...and thus open to PO customers. It does tie up a street officer while they jot down the tag and time, then come back 20 minutes later, varify the same cars are in the spot, then wait for the tow truck to arrive and wait while the tow is taken to the Impound and returns for the next car. Very, very time consuming. Usually the cars are from out of town. Oh yeah, they saw the sign that is in front of every stall that says 15 miniute parking, 24 hours-a-day, and tow away at owners expense. But they all assume that didn't apply after 5pm, or on weekends.
As someone mentioned earlier, it's a no win situation.  |