Short North Violence & Injury Prevention Task Force long-term parking/towing plan

Since May of this year, in response to violent late-night visitor behavior , the City has designated large contiguous segments of North High Street as “no-parking,” most recently from midnight to 4:00 am, Friday and Saturday nights, enforced by towing. Routine towing of vehicles to keep no-parking areas clear has prompted resistance in the business community after many customers have unwittingly violated no-parking restrictions and found their cars towed. The CPD has taken the position that widespread towing is not sustainable as a permanent solution because of the substantial police time involved in causing cars to be towed.

At the last general meeting of the Short North Violence & Injury Prevention Task Force in early October, it was decided to form a smaller task force to come up with a long-term parking/towing plan that would be predictable for visitors, and sustainable over the long term, while still promoting neighborhood safety, i.e., easing control of alcohol-fueled conduct, providing streetside space for police to pull over cars and make arrests, and reducing areas for patrons to park cars in which guns are stored near club entrances or other gathering spots.

Here is the draft plan:

1) Eliminate the weekend late-night no-parking zone between 2nd & 5th Avenues on the east side of N. High Street
2) Eliminate towing as an enforcement mechanism, except as a measure of last resort in an emergency.
3) Designate about 41 additional spots on both sides of High Street (hot pink on the map, attached), clearly marked by permanent signage, as reserved “Ride Hail Zones” (i.e., for Uber/Lyft/taxi), from 12 midnight until 4:00 am, every night.

As many of the new Zones are near club entrances, the plan would ease the exit of intoxicated visitors by means other than their own vehicles, reduce double-parking along High Street for passenger pick-up, and ease the flow of traffic out of the neighborhood.

It is not clearly explained how these scattered “Ride Hail Zones” would be kept clear of parked cars, although the frequent movement of ride-share vehicles in and out of the zones, along with clearer, permanent signage and more predictable and regular restricted hours, might serve to self-enforce the parking restrictions in these zones, to a degree.

If you have comments, please submit them to Jack Decker; jackwdecker@gmail.com), and/or to Jason Henry; jhenry2537@gmail.com (resident representative for the subcommittee).