Residential Parking Permits (Oakland: house, neighborhoods, to buy)

[ferraris]

I'm surprised I couldn't find a thread written on this topic already. But what is up with the residential parking permits? Is anyone a fan of them? I think that they are huge waste of time and money and are a negative factor when considering a move to the city. They don't guarantee you an overnight spot, which would be most important. It is also a huge hassle to actually get the permit, you have to get all your paperwork together and go downtown (and God help you if you don't have the scraps of the permit left over scraping off your old permit! Time for a notarized letter then!). Oh and maybe people with cars usually have jobs and might have some trouble making it downtown during the ridiculous hours of 8:30 - 4:00 Mon. - Fri.! I hope you enjoy 35 dollar daily fines until you can get down there! (okay so you can call the enforcement division of the parking authority and give them your plate number, but this isn't told to you anywhere on the papers you get with your permit or on their website.)

I think the permit system is unnecessary and unhelpful, but they add insult to injury by making the process of actually obtaining a permit such a huge hassle!

[tmorrisn]

My sister lives in a neighborhood (in another city) that has them. If they didn't, she would never be able to park near her house during the day. They generally do them in areas where large numbers of people work - near universities and hospitals. My sister lives across the street from Johns Hopkins University so there are tons of people who commute by car and would take over her on-street parking. They all go home at night so there's no need for overnight permits. The same is true in the neighborhoods near CMU.
Anyway, they are a hassle but I think the neighborhood associations are the reason for the permits - I don't think cities do them unless there are complaints by the neighbors. You might want to contact your neighborhood association and share your concern - maybe they can vote to get rid of the permit parking in your area.

[toosie]

I don't remember it being a hassle at all to get ours originally - just mailed something in with a check and then they mailed us the sticker. Renewals are the same way each year - easy peasy. In my neighborhood it does make a difference so I'm glad for them since we don't have off street parking

[Geeo]

They are a Godsend to many neighborhoods where daytime parking would be impossible. We had them when I lived onthe North Side and we have them in Shadyside. On the North Side, people from the suburbs would drive in and park on residential streets and either walk or take the bus into the city and leave their car all day. It left no room for residents. In Shadyside people would park and walk to Oakland or use residential streets as a park and ride near busay stations. With the permits, there is room for residential parking, and I never had a problem getting the permit.

[scrapp]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

I'm surprised I couldn't find a thread written on this topic already. But what is up with the residential parking permits? Is anyone a fan of them?

The RPP program is great. I live in permit K area, and without the RPP my street would be a parking lot for CMU employees and students. In fact, if you go a bit further out, this is what happens (CMU folks from the suburbs commute in and park in the neighborhood and then use their CMU IDs to take a free PAT bus ride to campus, thus avoiding having to buy parking on campus).

[ferraris]

Damn, I have to retype my post because I wasn't logged in!

Toosie, I think you can renew via mail, but you can't do it by mail if anything has changed (address or car).

I still don't think I buy the commuter argument for most neighborhoods that it is implemented in. Certainly it helps with parking in Oakland, especially since college students are likely to need parking during the day and night. But since it didn't protect night time parking it was still annoying. Everyone comes in to stay with friends or party at night, nobody is driving across town when most things college students want are already in Oakland. When I lived there I felt like I absolutely had to have my car parked by 7pm, there were times that I literally drove in circles around Oakland for 20 or 30 minutes.

And in a lot of neighborhoods where this is implemented there are not enough commuters to merit the permit system, in my opinion. On top of this, most people who live in those neighborhoods are gone during the day, having commuted to work themselves!

Anyway, I am mostly ticked off because of the lost wages from having to go down there, I've been down to that office 4 times and have lost a day of work and / or school every time. I also hate how many stickers you end up with on your car.

1.) First Permit
2.) Second permit, moved within same zone
3.) Third permit, moved out of zone
4.) New car

Speaking of those stickers, since I didn't scrape off my old sticker (and as I mentioned, they don't really scrape off well) from my old car, I now have to get a notarized letter (seriously?!??) and pay an extra fee to the notary and to the parking authority.I also can't always get the time to get down to the office right away, I've gotten multiple tickets when I can't get down there. I contested one of them and was told that I could have called the "enforcement office" and given them my plate number so they wouldn't ticket me till I got down there. THIS NEEDS TO BE SAID ON THEIR WEBSITE.

I am glad that for me it is just lost wages when I go down there, I can't imagine working for someplace that is more strict on time off.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Geeo

They are a Godsend to many neighborhoods where daytime parking would be impossible. We had them when I lived onthe North Side and we have them in Shadyside. On the North Side, people from the suburbs would drive in and park on residential streets and either walk or take the bus into the city and leave their car all day. It left no room for residents. In Shadyside people would park and walk to Oakland or use residential streets as a park and ride near busay stations. With the permits, there is room for residential parking, and I never had a problem getting the permit.

Hmm, I hadn't thought of commuters to Oakland or Downtown overflowing into other areas.

[ajl777]

My car got keyed even having the permit of the neighborhood I live in, probably because I parked in someone's "spot." Unrelated but god bless the yinzers.

[ferraris]

My car was constantly vandalized in Oakland.

[vtPGH]

My neighborhood does not have residential parking permits, but I really wish we did. Since I live on a block with a PAT stop, many suburbanites use our street as a park-n-ride, and on Steeler gamedays, I'm lucky to find any spot, as we're one of the closest 'free' parking blocks to the stadium. The price one pays to live in an awesome location...