Downtown parking issues leads to frustration as residents see tickets pile up; St. Louis City changes way for people to pay

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) - Finding parking in downtown St. Louis can be a headache, and now drivers are coming back to their cars with a ticket and no explanation.

While looking into viewer concerns about the confusing or missing parking signs, First Alert 4 saw the issue firsthand. Nila Wright always parks in front of the Clarkson Eyecare where she works downtown.

“I want to say in the span of two weeks, I’ve gotten at least four tickets,” Wright said.

Instead, Wright told First Alert 4 that she now pays $30 a day to park in the garage next to her job, just to avoid the inevitable parking tickets.

“It’s just a little unfortunate just because there isn’t really a clear way to know how to pay for the parking,” Wright said.

Parking is run through the St. Louis City Treasurer’s Office which told First Alert 4 that paying by plate is new. Before this, parking was pay by space. During the transition, some pole caps throughout downtown didn’t have clear signs or, according to downtown resident Brian Vollum, any signs.

“A lot of people kind of pondering things at the place where you pay,” Vollum said.

Vollum said the signs near his building have been gone for the last week to two weeks.

“At least a fair number of people got tickets because they didn’t know what was going on,” Vollum said. “There was no signage.”

On Thursday, First Alert 4 watched as city workers went around adding more signs and stickers, telling people exactly how to pay. During that time, people parked in those spots got ticketed. For the single space meters sees around the city, those are staying the same.

Wright told First Alert 4 that paying $20 for each ticket has been frustrating.

“Please have some empathy for us because we’re a bit confused and it doesn’t seem like there’s a clear line of communication between us and the parking meter people.”

If you got a parking ticket during this time, First Alert 4 asked the treasurer’s office what could be done. The treasurer’s office said they will honor waiving tickets for people, instructing residents to contact the Parking Violations Bureau (PVB) at 314-627-2232, then follow the prompts, as staff have been informed of the Office accommodation to waive these fees.

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