Are “Re-Parking” Tickets Driving Business Out of Downtown Everett?

Glenn Coggeshell, owner of Black Dot Coffee at 1804 Hewitt in downtown Everett, displayed nearly three dozen parking tickets to the Everett City Council last night. He told me he wanted to make the point that customers were being driven out of downtown Everett during the day because they were receiving tickets for “re-parking”. It seems that many employees downtown are parking in one 90 minute zone and after 87 minutes they come out and move their car down a block and “re-park” in another space. To discourage this, lots of tickets are being written based on this from the Everett parking ordinance…

Downtown Re-parking Restrictions:
Within the Central Business District, employees and students may only park once each day, Monday-Friday, between 8am and 6pm. Re-parking a vehicle within the Central Business District is prohibited. Others may park and re-park if the primary purpose of re-parking is for shopping or securing services in the Central Business District. It is the intent of this restriction to require employees and students to utilize off-street parking and to reserve on-street parking for shoppers and customers. The Central Business District is defined as the area between Twenty-Fifth Street to the north and Pacific Ave to the south, and Broadway Ave to the east, and Rucker Ave to the west.

The problem is, how do you prove you were just at the bank, then drove down two blocks within the Central Business District to grab a cup of coffee? Several City Council members expressed their agreement with Coggeshell and action was promised. One council member even suggested an amnesty program so that if you got a “re-parking ticket” you could present a receipt showing that you were shopping and the ticket would be forgiven. It will be interesting to see what the council finally comes up with. Here’s a handy pamphlet about Everett’s Parking rules.