Parking meters hobble downtown

Kudos to former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman: When he was sworn into office, druggies, hookers, beggars and bail bondsmen littered the streets of downtown. Locals wouldn't be caught dead there and neither would tourists, unless they were literally found dead.

Over a decade's time, Goodman shooed away the riff-raff, landscaped the streets, convinced business entrepreneurs to open quaint gaming-free bars, helped hatch the idea of First Friday and even built a little river in honor of himself.

Oscar is gone now and unfortunately he failed to eliminate one sordid element that threatens to destroy everything he accomplished.

We've all encountered these bullies. They cruise the city streets in wimpy three-wheeled golf carts each day -- and apparently after hours too -- searching for the poor souls who were caught up in a meeting or who happened to be a couple minutes late returning to their vehicles. They proudly whip out their super nifty electronic ticket writers and nail them. And they seem thrilled to do it.

Parking is a problem in any city. I'm no Oscar Goodman but it seems obvious that overzealous enforcement officers can chase away tourists and quickly turn off residents willing to give downtown a second chance.

Example of overzealous? When I was covering a lengthy federal trial a few years back, the breaks didn't always coincide with the expiration on the parking meter. Admittedly, I had collected a handful of parking tickets and, buried in a time-consuming trial, I hadn't had a chance to take care of them.

So here comes a parking enforcement officer who puts a massive bright orange boot on the rear driver's side wheel. Fine. But that wasn't enough. He then glued the bright orange sticker -- not a small one, but one honestly the size of a window -- onto the driver's side. Because one might not have noticed that boot. That wasn't enough either. He then pasted another super-sized sticky sticker on the passenger-side window. I assume that is because some of us are just wacky enough to miss the boot, miss the driver's side sticker and crawl into our cars through the passenger door.

Anybody who has worked downtown long enough will recall the two coveted spaces on Bonneville Avenue at Fourth Street. Coveted because I am pretty sure it set a downtown record for the longest stretch of curb space not painted red. We fought for them. We set our alarms earlier. We skipped breakfast. We prayed all the way into town that we could land one of those spots.

Then it happened. I received a ticket, citing me for parking within 25 feet of a crosswalk. Um, 25 feet is a really long way, right? Drivers blow through crosswalks while people are walking in them, and they are going to ticket someone for parking 25 feet away?

The next day, the curb was painted red.

Same on Sixth Street. Some reckless driver plowed over a meter and we all celebrated. We downtown visitors battled over that single freebie space, too. Then the city rushed in. It didn't install a new meter, it slapped on a coat of red paint apparently fearful of losing revenue generated from that one space.

And just because you park your car along an unpainted curb doesn't mean you are in the clear. They will paint it while you are away. No joke.

I can't even begin to describe what recently happened to a co-worker, so I'll just borrow her exact words: I parked on a section of street which had no paint or other indication that it was a no-parking zone. Returning to my car, I saw that they had literally painted red paint around my car and also had placed orange cones around it. Incredulous, I left, only to discover at my destination that I had been ticketed for $250 for parking within 15 feet of a hydrant.

The hydrant, as it turns out, was tucked behind a wall and not visible from the street.

Then there was the First Friday debacle when hundreds of attendees had their cars towed from a weedy vacant downtown lot.

How about this reader's question: Why would meter maids continue to write parking tickets on a Saturday on Ogden Avenue at 6:15 p.m.?

Obviously parking meters are an important revenue source for the city. The fines for parking tickets and penalties for late payments are dumped into the Municipal Parking Enterprise Fund, which pays for parking improvements such as new structures or lots.

As one might imagine, money collected isn't chintzy. Preliminary figures for fiscal year 2011 show the city stands to rake in nearly $4 million in fines and penalties. Still, according to city officials, that isn't enough to pay for needed parking garages.

Maybe that's my fault.

Back in my days working at the federal court, I used to loiter in an adjacent parking lot before trials or after lunch, watching these vultures circle in their buggies. A cash-eating grin would spread across the officer's face when he spotted a flashing meter. He would zip over but usually I would beat him, proudly plunging a quarter into the meter of a complete stranger.

Here's my advice to Oscar's successor, his wife, Carolyn: Bring back the hookers; they were nicer.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call Adrienne Packer at 702-387-2904, or send an email to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com. Include your phone number.