Pittsburgh councilors may change the city parking code to close a loophole in the rules around prohibited parking areas, including sidewalks.
City code currently includes a provision allowing drivers to park in places where they otherwise wouldn’t be allowed if doing so is for the sake of a vehicle’s safety. The provision is one piece of a code section noting exception scenarios for typical parking rules, including “to avoid conflict with other traffic,” or to comply with a police officer or traffic control device’s directions.
But according to Councilor Bobby Wilson, who sits on the city’s Parking Authority board, the provision on vehicle safety has been used by some drivers as an excuse to park where they shouldn’t.
Wilson said drivers took their parking tickets to court and justified parking on a sidewalk or in a bike lane as “protecting [their] vehicle.” He said he worked with Pittsburgh cyclist-advocacy group Bike Pittsburgh on crafting a bill to remove the loophole. Council gave that bill preliminary approval on Wednesday.
“There’s hundreds of tickets that have been given for people that are parking in a bike lane,” said Wilson. “So I think this would further enforce that.”
Councilor Erika Strassburger said she believes the legislation is “great.”
“I’m glad that you’ve seen this play out in court and then learned that we actually need an ordinance change to be able to make this defensible in the courts,” she said.
But she also noted the city should probably have a broader conversation about parking enforcement, especially around sidewalk parking. She noted that parking on sidewalks is common in some parts of the city due to street layouts.
“We can be black and white about it, but the reality in the world is that it’s very dependent on narrowness of the street and alternatives to parking, and alternatives to non-vehicle transportation throughout the city,” she said.
Councilor Anthony Coghill said people often park on the sidewalks and block sidewalks for pedestrians in his district.
“People are abusing it … If you’re in a wheelchair, you can’t get by. Baby stroller, you have to go out in the street. Even kids walking by just to go to school, they have to walk out in the street,” he said.
But he noted that enforcement in such situations can be difficult when people are accustomed to parking on the sidewalk. He also worried that pushing those drivers off the curb could make narrow streets harder to navigate for ambulances or fire trucks.
“Sometimes I hesitate to enforce it because I don’t want to ticket the whole street,” Coghill said. “I’d like to put out a warning, actually, and say, ‘Look, we’re going to be citing this in the near future,’ so we don’t burden them all with a fine right away, but we let them know moving forward we want you off the curb.”
“I think it’s a really, really big problem,” Strassburger added. “The solution is not going to be easy.”
Wilson said he’d be happy to talk about a more comprehensive approach to parking enforcement in the future, but emphasized that breaking parking rules can cause legitimate hazards.
“If you’re parking on a sidewalk and a wheelchair can’t get past, and there’s houses on that street, you’re doing the wrong thing,” Wilson said. “You need to park somewhere else.”
Council will hold a final vote on the bill Monday.