Jessica Fisher, Public Information Assistant, 509.625.6749
Tuesday, October 31, 2017 at 1:11 p.m.
Updated: 4/10/2019
Approximately 10,000 vehicles come downtown to park every day and there are only 3,000 on-street parking stalls. In an effort to increase turnover, Parking Enforcement officers monitor how long vehicles stay at a meter and individuals feeding/plugging meters.
With such a wide variety of downtown parking users (residents, employees, patrons, students, contractors, etc.) not everyone can park on the street. On-street parking is great for short-term stays and provides convenient proximity to local businesses. Off-street parking lots and garages are able to provide longer timestays and are perfect for downtown residents and employees. All metered parking downtown has timestay limits in place to help provide turnover in high congestion areas. This, in turn, helps all users of the system find available parking.
In October 2016, the Spokane City Council passed a resolution to increase timestay enforcement in the metered areas of the City to help facilitate traffic turnover and increase available parking for all users of the system. Following this resolution the City of Spokane ran a parking amnesty program from early May through October, educating all users about the importance of following meter timestays. Parking Enforcement officers monitored how long vehicles stayed at meters and individuals who plugged the meter or left their vehicles at the meter past the maximum timestay for that block face received a warning. In October alone, officers passed out 481 formal warnings to users parked beyond the time limit.
As of November 1, Parking Enforcement officers are giving $10 tickets for individuals feeding/plugging the meter past its listed timestay and $30 tickets to individuals whose vehicles stay over the allotted meter timestay. Here are some downtown parking tips to help you avoid getting a ticket:
Get the answer to time stay and block face frequently asked questions. (PDF 111 KB)
