Update 7:40 a.m. Tuesday
Columbus City Council on Monday approved an ordinance to toughen rules for street parking around the city.
Original story
Columbus City Council on Monday night will vote on an ordinance that would change street parking around the city.
The ordinance would require vehicles on city streets to move 75 feet after 72 hours (three days) of continuous parking or they would be towed. Currently, Columbus requires vehicles to be moved after 72 hours but doesn't specify distance.
German Village resident David Gaumer spoke to a local police officer, and he says he believes the 72 hour rule is practically unenforceable unless people make particular complaints.
“You’re going to tell me, you’re going to mark a car, and in 72 hours you’re going to come back and tow it?” Gaumer asked the officer.
“‘No,’ he says, ‘the neighborhood complains. We aren’t going around the city,’” Gaumer says the officer replied.
“You can’t afford to go around the city and spending all this money checking for cars that have been there for two days,” Gaumer says.
Among other flaws of the 72-hour parking system, Gaumer says the potential new changes would run into a common issue in German Village, the Short North or other locations: space.
“Down here, where are you going to move it 75 feet?” Gaumer says.
Diana Webster, who has lived in German Village for 22 years, also says she could see some issues with the new changes, despite herself living in a residence with a driveway.
“I think people should be able to go out of town for a week and be able to leave their car in the same place,” Webster says. “You should be able to have it there for 10 days and not be ticketed.”
Many residences in German Village do not have dedicated parking or driveway, Webster says.
“I would say probably it would be a little more than half don’t have driveway or off-street parking,” Webster says.
Columbus Council will also be voting on other parking-related changes related to car-sharing and meter revenue.
