People who live in Castleberry Hill are furious after learning that a parking lot moratorium is not being enforced by the City of Atlanta. The City Council placed a 180-day moratorium on issuing temporary parking lot permits in the Castleberry Hill neighborhood in order to allow for a review of the regulations that govern the lots, which are used for parking at the Georgia Dome.
The moratorium, which went into effect July 24, was supposed to close a dozen temporary parking lots off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and McDaniel Street between Northside Drive, Whitehall Street and Spring Street, but our affiliate CBS Atlanta discovered that some lots had received special permits and parking was taking place during last night’s Falcons exhibition game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Here’s more from the CBS Atlanta report:
“The moratorium, which means cease and desist, did not happen,” resident Robin Gagnon said. “They are not enforcing their own city laws.”
CBS Atlanta watched as Atlanta Police wrote at least one citation to a parking attendant for unauthorized parking at 0 Nelson Street. The man who would not identify himself to CBS Atlanta, told police it was private property. That location is on the moratorium list released by the city.
Despite his citation, the parking attendant continued to park cars and collect cash.
“He is parking 75 cars at $10 a pop, so he gets a $100 fine, what’s it matter to him,” Gagnon said. He is going to come back and break the law the next weekend, he is going to continue to do it. Unless, the penalty is large enough, it doesn’t make any difference.”
Police said some of the parking locations received special permits to park cars there, despite the moratorium. Officers said they were just following orders.
The addresses of the lots affected by the moratorium include:
0 Haynes Street
0 Nelson Street
27 Markham Street
43 Mangum Street
65 Haynes
73 Mangum Street
92 Northside Drive
185 Walker Street
343-349 Mitchell Street
399-407 Chapel Street
440 Markham Street
445 Markham Street
