Question(s) - Park or Don't Park? . . . Please Weigh In

ITEM: Residents near American Fork HS in Am. Fork, Ut are concerned and have complained about the 2 hr limit on parking in and around their homes not being enforced by the city and the police. It's been reported that students with and without school parking stickers have been parking in front of driveways, mail boxes and blocking garbage bins etc the entire school period and even after hours. Question 1: What if anything should the city do? Question 2: To what extent should local govt pass law(s) regarding public streets and restricting  public parking? Question 3: Should we; A. enforce the 2 hr parking limit? B. Let the high school handle the problem? C. Enact a new ordinance for residential parking, eliminating 24/7, public parking except those with resident permits to inc. 4 or so for visitors? or D. Do nothing and let the status quo remain? 

What are the Pros and Cons? If you were a Muncipal Legislator, what would you do?

Comments

[Tamra Back]

If garbage trucks and mail delivery can't service the community due to parking congestion on streets, it is most definitely a city problem.

I don't see any other answer except to enforce a no-parking ordinance for high school students on the affected streets. That will necessitate the school determine criteria for those who get parking permits vs. those who don't. It seems reasonable to give permits based on a student's distance from school. (Student's who qualify for the school bus would be exempt.)

I am not one of the inconvenienced neighbors nor is my son one who would qualify for a parking pass regardless of the criteria. So this viewpoint is fairly unbiased. Personally, we have nothing to gain and everything to lose by strict street parking restrictions and assigned criteria-based parking passes.

Yet I have this crazy belief the neighbors should be able to get their mail and have their garbage picked up. I realize this will be inconvenient for many, me included, but it's the right thing to do. On rare occasion in these charmed lives we lead, we have to make small sacrifices. And yes, a guaranteed parking space to every AFHS student qualifies as a small sacrifice when juxtaposed against things like no freedom, food shortages, genicide, etc. I'd like to think we can overcome the "spoiled american" mentality, make the small sacrifices that need to be made, and be happy with all that we have anyway.

P.S. Somehow, living just shy of the 2 miles required to take the bus, I walked the entire 3 years of my high school tenure, and survived to tell the story. I could be wrong, but I imagine our little sweethearts will rise to the occasion, given the proper example is set by us, the adults.

[GC]

I think it is a school problem. I don't think the city should be requiring parking permits. I do think the school should become a partner with the neighbors to set rules. A two hour parking permit is insane. School last all day. It is not the kids or parents fault there is no parking. It is the school's problem to deal with. Don't make this a police problem. They have enough to deal with.

[Brian & Paige Olson]

To the American Fork City Council,

Thank you for all of your efforts so far on our behalf regarding the parking issue around American Fork High School. We understand the difficulties you face as you strive to serve our community. As was plainly observed during Thursday's work session, feelings about this issue are diverse and heated. After leaving the session, many of the community members gathered outside the building and further discussed the issue amongst ourselves. While our concerns and opinions still vary, we did come to some consensus on some points.

In regards to Councilman Gunther's suggestion that the best way would be to teach the children, we all agree. Therein lies the difficulty. For the most part, I believe the children already know. For example, take a study about driving and text messaging released last year by AAA. 58 percent of drivers interviewed said talking on a cell phone while driving was a "very serious threat to their safety," but 55 percent of the same group had done it in the past month. In a similar manner these kids know the difference between what is right and what is wrong. They just have not learned the consequence of wrong choices. Therefore, no amount of education on the subject is going to change behavior unless there are severe enough consequences for disregarding the education. Laws do not exist just for safety and necessity. Sometimes laws exist to teach us. And as teachers, laws only have efficacy when there are consequences. If we want these kids to learn, we either need to be severe in enforcing the law as it exists now, or we need to enact more enforceable laws and ordinances.

In regards to Councilwoman Rodebeck's suggestion that the problem may be helped by increasing the cost of parking permits, I must respectfully disagree. Allow me to explain why: On average, somewhere around one half of the student vehicles crowding our streets do not have a parking pass to begin with. If American Fork High School or Alpine School District were to raise the price of a parking permit to say, 5.00 from the current 2.50, a larger percentage of students will say to themselves, 'why bother, when parking in the street is free?' This will, in essence, empty the parking lot, and fill the street. I think you will find that the High School administration is aware of this, and is intentionally keeping prices low. Additionally, I think you will find that the High School administration intentionally oversells the permits for that same reason. They, being aware of the problem and not having any legal recourse to discipline students who park off campus, are trying in their own way to encourage the students back on to campus by making parking permits readily available.

In regards to Councilman LeBaron's concern that the Alpine School District and the High School be more involved, please, by all means, involve them quickly. I am confident that you will find that they are aware of the problem and are at a loss as to what they can do about it. The responsibility can not be placed upon them, because they know and have told us many times that they have no legal authority to control parking that is not on their property. Unless you are willing to empower agents of the high school to enforce civil law, they can do nothing.

Any solution must take work and sacrifice from 3 parties; the School District, the City and the Residents. If the city restricts parking in some manner on the streets, this will force these students back onto the High School campus. Once the students are on School District property, then they can begin the process of teaching responsibility to the students. This is what has allowed both Lehi and Pleasant Grove High Schools to take control of their parking issues. When the cities curtailed the ability of students to park anywhere but campus, then the schools were free to raise the cost of parking permits, correct bad parking behavior through tickets, and impress upon students that driving is a privilege, not a right. We the residents will have to accept that we can not always have our cake and eat it to, whether we are tax payers or not. If we want our streets safer in the Winter, then we have to accept restrictions to ourselves as well as to everyone else who uses our streets. If we as residents want to teach these children principles, then we must agree to set up rules with clearly defined consequences that apply to all, including ourselves. This is the price that we must pay for increased security and safety on our streets.

In the discussions we had after the work session with the major dissenters to the ordinance, we found that, while still opposed to the ordinance on general terms, they were more favorable towards a revised ordinance that applies only to school hours. This would be especially true if 500 East is not included in the enforcement. While those of us who live directly across from the high school are not entirely happy with this compromise, it is one that we too would more likely to accept. This might empower the high school to take additional action, which all involved desire. Another alternative that could be considered, would be to set the ordinance up with zones. Specifically, 600 E in front of the High School and one block north and south, could be made resident only 24-7, 365. The other included streets could then become "resident only" between the hours of 7 - 4, during the normal school year. Please note, this is not a proposal that has been discussed with many of the parties involved, just a few of the local residents.

We are all anxious for resolution. If possible, we would like to meet with involved parties from the city, the school district, and residents from both sides of the issue and come up with a resolution sometime in the next week.

As always, thank you for your efforts on our behalf,
Brian & Paige Olson