Residents can't post no-parking signs

Florida Keys News - Key West Citizen

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Residents can't post no-parking signs

Orange cones, chairs and garbage cans used as barriers

BY GWEN FILOSA Citizen Staff
gfilosa@keysnews.com

With snowbirds and tourists returning to Key West, the city is warning residents they cannot legally block off streetside parking spots in front of their homes.

So the orange traffic cones, the plastic chairs, the hand-painted "No Parking" signs and the strategically placed trash cans all have to go.

The city has received complaints from O...

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Legitimate Resident.....

Submitted on Fri, 01/25/2013 - 7:16pm by dalton2kw

okay, is this a person who moved here from God-only-knows-where & rents a place to live (may have a job, drivers' license, etc) OR is it a person who owns a home and pays taxes ?

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Enforce Existing Parking Laws!

Submitted on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 9:07pm by angelcatkeywest

If the City more effectively enforced the existing parking laws, maybe those more obnoxious, er, industrious, folks who litter the streets with chairs, cones and cans, won't feel the need to "reserve" their spaces.

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True

Submitted on Fri, 01/25/2013 - 1:23am by Concerned

For example..if you have a handicap placard or plate you can park for free for 3 hours at any meter. You cannot park at a meter that has a red "hood"..for deliveries.The musician who plays at the "Bull" does this every day blocking Caroline street with trucks who have nowhere elese to park. Parking patrol is just tired of dealing with him so allow him to do this day after day.

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the city is at fault here too!

Submitted on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 4:57pm by ezinthekeys

“It’s all public property governed only by proof of residency in Monroe County in some spots — a Florida license plate will do if “Monroe” is the county imprinted below the tag number.” Well… maybe the city shouldn’t be issuing parking permits to all those vehicles with out of state tags! As Alyson Crean states… to get a resident parking permit your vehicle has to be registered in Monroe County, Florida not somewhere in Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, or any other state. They take up actual resident’s spaces and we lose on the tax dollars not collected through registration fees. I’d bet most of those hoopty beater cars seen year round don’t have any insurance either. It’s a no- win situation for the residents because the city keeps issuing residential permits to non- residents. End that and I bet the parking problem goes away on it’s own.

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Taxes

Submitted on Wed, 01/30/2013 - 10:52am by dalton2kw

Do you REALLY think that tag taxes are more than real estate taxes ????

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REPAINT RESIDENTIAL SPACES

Submitted on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 3:52pm by Bahama Village Guy

If only Monroe County plates or cars with residental permits parked in Bahama Village, I doubt most residents would feel the need to save parking places. However, too many Thomas Street residential parking spots are being taken by tourists. Rental cars and even golf carts who are patrons of Blue Heaven, La Creperie and Hemingway House occupy a high percentage of the residential parking spots every day. It is hard to blame the tourists, though because the residential spots are not adequately marked. If the City wants to have people stop saving parking spaces on Thomas Street, they need to repaint the residential parking spots so the tourist know it is residential parking and then actually have someone enforce the residential parking rules. Taking away cones and garbage cans does nothing to solve the underlying problem and only makes the residents life more difficult.

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Bahama village ain't seen nothing yet!

Submitted on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 11:22am by 666

Wait until we get the funding for the "connectivity project" that will bring wide sidewalks and eliminate dozens of parking places throughout Bahama Village. It will also bring a flood of cars and tourists flocking to the Mark Rossi cruise ship park at Truman Waterfront. I can not believe the residents of this area are being screwed by The City while our local commissioner smiles and goes along with this project. Wake up Bahama Village! A parking lot on Fort Street is no replacement for dozens of spots by your homes. The 400 block of Virginia is a good example. Today there is parking for about 25 cars. After this "project" there will be about 12 spaces. Similar examples are on every block in the 100 to 400 blocks of Olivia, Julia, Amelia and Virginia.

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Blocking Sidewalks

Submitted on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 8:38am by CaptainB

Can we do something about the cars that park blocking the sidewalks? I know of several homes in old town that have off street parking designed for one car. The residents put two cars in them, overhanging the sidewalk and sometimes into the street, blocking the sidewalk.

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Ridiculous.

Submitted on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 8:04am by cwew

This amounts to legal extortion from the City of Key West. When a person(s) purchase a home albeit in Old Town or the Meadows or in New Town, they should be designated the parking in front of their property in which they pay taxes on. In addition, $400 per four months to park if you are an employee in Old Town? I remember the brain trust at City Hall having meters installed along a stretch of Smathers Beach. Another way to extort more money out of tourists who spend plenty in Key West. The city and county departments are 'top heavy' and need to eliminate the cushy positions. Greed.

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Did I read that right?

Submitted on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 7:56am by gkv

Is a parking permit really that expensive just to park in the city? My Fidelity account cannot afford that expense so I find other places to park.

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City should provide sufficient capacity in HARC District.

Submitted on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 2:43am by Rabbi Flanagan

Most homes on the Historic Register pre-date the introduction of the automobile in Key West.

Homeowners are forced to adhere to architectural standards from the 1890's, down to allowable building materials, while the city has widened and paved streets for modern vehicles, including noisy diesel delivery and garbage trucks.

Most historic homes don't include offstreet parking, because such a need did not exist when the homes were constructed. If the city is going to tax these properties at the premium that they are -- while simultaneously denying the owners the ability to reconfigure their homes to accommodate offstreet parking, then the city must provide guaranteed space within a reasonable distance of one's home.

This does not mean a space that anyone with a Monroe County plate can park in. It's time that the city assured adequate parking for at least one vehicle at every historic residence and restricted the use for such spaces to legitimate residents of the district.