My appointment this morning on Front Street was for 9:00 am. I left my house in Leicester at 8:20 which allowed for any traffic I might encounter. Surprisingly the ride in was smooth and without the usual backups. At 8:47 I turned from Mechanic Street to head into the parking garage there and was met with the dreaded "Garage Full" signs. No problem, continued on and turned right onto Foster Street. There I discovered the old garage being dismantled and limited parking spaces on the right side of the road, all metered. I went around to Franklin Street, turned right and then went onto Front Street. I went around City Hall, back down Franklin Street and then went to the Library parking lot. There I found plenty of spaces but once again they were all metered. After walking back to Front Street I made it to my appointment ten minutes late. So the net time to get to Front Street from Leicester Center was 37 minutes and the net time finding a place to park was 23 minutes.
After finishing up on Front Street I needed to go to City Hall. Because I was late for my appointment, it ended up going over. I was now close to the two hour limit I had put on the parking meter but did not have time to add to it. At City Hall my business ended up being close to 3 hours. When I finally made it back to the Library Lot I had a nice $20.00 present on my windshield. Ok, so that happens when you let it run over.
My complaint is not with the parking ticket enforcement, it is instead with the city for failing to provide enough signs so that people who have business downtown can know where to park. Didn't anyone think the elimination of the parking garage would cause parking issues? I also wonder why city council meetings are filled with trivial issues like banning cigarettes while real issues, like downtown parking, are ignored?
