Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 6, 1993 TAG: 9311060040
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Most of the time, the complaints come from shoppers who say they have to walk several blocks to reach a store or office.
If they park at a metered space, they worry they will have a parking ticket when they return.
Now, the parking complaints are coming from an unlikely source: city police officers.
The specter of a lawsuit over parking spaces looms if the city refuses to provide parking for 250 officers.
The officers say they have no free, convenient parking for their personal vehicles while they are on duty.
The officers sometimes get parking tickets if they park in metered spaces along downtown streets, and the vehicles of some officers have been vandalized at night.
The police officers want the city to provide free parking spaces for them and other city employees.
They have found a little-known provision in the city code which they say could force the city to provide parking.
The code section says:
"The city manager shall assign parking spaces in municipal parking lots for the use of various departments, officers and employees, including the mayor and members of the City Council."
It also includes this:
"The city manager shall designate the space or spaces which any individual or department shall be assigned and shall issue to the individual or department appropriate stickers or tags to be placed on vehicles authorized to occupy or use the assigned spaces."
If the city does not provide parking spaces, the police officers might go to court.
Jeff Rudd, an attorney for the police officers, said Friday he hopes the parking issue can be settled without a lawsuit.
"There is always the possibility of litigation," Rudd said, whenever there are disagreements over the interpretation of a law.
The officers want the city to provide spaces for them in the Municipal Parking Garage on Church Avenue.
They work in shifts, so the numbers of spaces that would be needed probably would be no more than 100.
Rudd said he understands that up to 100 vacant spaces are available daily in the 860-space garage, and the garage is vacant at night.
The police officers believe the city can provide parking spaces without losing any revenue.
"Since the city owns the garage, there wouldn't be any additional cost," Rudd said.
City Manager Bob Herbert said Friday he was surprised that the police officers are seeking spaces in the Church Avenue garage, because it was built for public use at fair-market rental fees.
The garage was not designed to provide parking for city employees, Herbert said.
But about 50 employees park there because a city-owned parking lot at Church Avenue and Third Street - where they had parked - was taken for the city's new courthouse.
Herbert said he would have to check the garage's financial and rental records before he could verify the estimate of 100 vacant spaces a day.
Herbert said he doesn't mind studying the police officers' request, but he doesn't have an immediate solution.
The city has assigned free spaces for the mayor, council members, top administrators and about 50 other city employees.
Council members and top officials have spaces in the small lot on the east side of the Municipal Building. The others can park in the Municipal Garage.
"Our position is that there are spaces available, and they should be assigned to police officers and other city employees," Rudd said. "We realize that not all of them might be assigned to officers, but they should be made available to city employees."
by CNB