Parking Around Trader Joe’s Sparks “Vigilante” Action

Parking around the holidays is always hectic.  When you have a home around a popular retail chain or near a mall, parking becomes a pain.  This was the case near Trader Joe's in Berkeley, CA when confusing parking signs caused all kinds of havoc.

In the article Parking Around Trader Joe’s Sparks “Vigilante” Action, Linda Hemmila, a reporter for the local news site Berkeleyside, describes how one resident took matters into her own hands.

The city altered parking signs in the neighborhood that designated one side of the street as resident only parking and the other side two-hour parking.

The result of this confusion caused an increase in unfair parking tickets, which resulted in the 'vigilante' action Linda describes in the article below.

This situation serves as a reminder to use the proper guidelines and recommendations when you are ordering new parking signs to prevent confusion and reduce the chance of a 'vigilante' appearing on the streets you manage.

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Parking around Trader Joe’s sparks “vigilante” action

By Linda Hemmila

If you’ve received a parking ticket near Trader Joe’s on University Avenue in Berkeley, you’re in good company. So many people have been ticketed there over the past year and half it’s become a neighborhood cause, and has provoked defiant action from a “parking vigilante”, and is up for renewed discussion at the next scheduled City Council meeting on January 17th.

The trouble stems from parking signs in the area, which, according to councilmember Jesse Arreguín, are “very confusing”. The city has acknowledged as much by dismissing most contested citations because, it says, the signage is not sufficiently clear to visitors.

It all started in June 2010 when, as part of the redevelopment of the downtown area — and with the June 11 opening of Trader Joe’s — the city altered parking signs in the neighborhood that designated one side of the street as resident only parking and the other side two-hour parking.

The signs on the residential side were adorned with red and white city-made stickers denoting “no parking” that were placed directly over the old sign that said “two- hour parking”. The streets in questions include Berkeley Way, Addison Street, Bonita Avenue and Grant Street.

That’s when council members started to receive phone calls complaining of unfair parking citations.

“These aren’t just scofflaws,” said Anthony Sanchez, legislative aide to councilmember Arreguín. “There is a hodgepodge of signs in that area making it hard for people to know what to do. The stickers just made that worse. Is it two-hour parking or no parking? People aren’t sure.”

Calls from citizens seeking help with traffic citations aren’t new to Arreguin’s office. “That’s what we do,” said Sanchez. He said he is currently receiving up to three calls a day on this problem alone. “Such a disproportionate number of tickets are coming from this one area, so you know the signage isn‘t working,” he said.

In November 2011, a City Council information item raised the issue of the clarity and effectiveness of the Trader Joe’s area parking signs. A memo from Andrew Clough, Director of Public Works, concluded the signs met all legal standards. However, the memo went on to suggest revisiting the design of the signs and possibly making modifications that would state more clearly where parking was allowed.

One “dramatic alternative” suggested in the memo was to completely eliminate the Residential Preferential Parking (RPP) modification and restore the entire area to allow 2-hour visitor parking.

“The city, the mayor and council are very sympathetic to people and are working to resolve this problem,” said Arreguín this week. “But this takes time and resources.” Arreguín and his staff have drafted a consent item for the January 17 City Council meeting which recommends the city manager move to temporarily enforce the previous two-hour parking limit until the new signs are installed...(Continued)

Click here to read the rest of this story, where you learn more about:

• An explanation of who the Parking 'vigilante' is, and what she has done to help people avoid a ticket.
   
• View some interesting photos of actions taken by the towing companies working in the area.
   
• Read about the temporary solution to solve the parking problems until the new parking signs arrive.