Half of our block of Lincoln Avenue, the half toward Cleveland, has had permit parking from 8am-8pm for years. The rest of our block has been inundated with Saint Thomas parking since 2009. Sara Mountain led a drive to bring permit parking to all of Lincoln. However, Sara proposed a permit that is only required during the school year from 8am-5pm. This revision and extension of the Area 21 parking permit was approved by the Saint Paul City Council on 21 March 2012.
Recent news about the permit effort…
- Area 21 Permit Pushback
- Parking permit signs are here
- Parking permit signs coming soon
- Area 21 Parking Permit Petition Passes City Council (barely)
- Area 21: Write or Call City Council Today, Join us Wednesday
- MGCC Board Sends Area 21 Permit Change on to City Council
- Highland Villager: Concerns raised over changing permit parking area near St. Thomas
- City sets 3/21 hearing date for Area 21 parking permit
- MGCC Transportation Committee Recommends Area 21 Parking Permit Changes to City Council
- Don’t Forget the Parking Permit Meeting Tomorrow!
The city told Sara that in order to change the duration of the permit zone she would have to petition all of Area 21 (PDF), from Cleveland to Howell and from Summit to Goodrich. If 60% of the current permit-required households plus 60% of the rest of Lincoln agreed, then the whole of Area 21 permit parking zones would switch over to Sara’s plan. In November 2011 Sara reached that goal!
On 1/23, after a very vigorous citizen discussion, the MGCC Transportation Committee voted unanimously (only our own David Redmond abstained, since he felt it a conflict of interest to vote) to recommend that City Council approve the Area 21 parking permit changes, including the expansion on Lincoln to Prior. Thank you to everyone who showed up to speak for the permit and lend your support. It really helped. On 2/9 the MGCC Board voted overwhelmingly (only a single vote opposed) to approve the Transportation Committee resolution and forward the petition to City Council.
City council held a hearing on the Area 21 changes on 3/21 and approved the petition. New signs probably won’t be posted until after the RSVP project concludes in late 2012.
If you’d like more information about permit parking, the FAQ from the city may help answer your questions (PDF).
What happened to 8-8?
Some of you may recall that Siira also circulated a petition to simply extend the 8am-8pm permit requirement to the rest of Lincoln Avenue through Prior. We did carry that petition along with Sara’s, but the 8-8 petition only attracted 25% support, so we did not submit it to the city.