BALTIMORE — Starting Monday, if you park illegally overnight you could get yourself a ticket or even towed now.
It’s part of a city-wide crackdown by Baltimore’s Department of Transportation.
VIDEO: Baltimore to crack down on illegal overnight parking
DOT Director Veronica Mcbeth says a recent hiring blitz has enabled them to shift the focus of parking enforcement.
“It would really just allow for us to expand our resources to do enforcement in neighborhoods where you would see moreover like abandoned vehicles, where we would see illegally parked vehicles, maybe blocking stop signs, fire hydrants, things like that, where it’s dangerous behavior," she said.
It's something she's seen first hand in her own neighborhood.
“It was a blind corner and intersection, and my neighbor had his steps knocked out four different times because people parked at a stop sign. So I can’t help but think that proper enforcement of people making sure that they’re parking safe and in a law abiding way, could have helped address and changed that.”
The agency is also targeting cars without tags, commercial vehicles parked in residential zones and repeat offenders.
The department reports it will use real-time data analysis to identify "high-risk areas" and also to "improve response times, and prioritize enforcement or intervention strategies."
“If people need the services, I’m glad that it’s going to be there for them," Patterson Park neighbor Justin George said.
George, who's had a lot of experiences having to report cars blocking his driveway and preventing his husband from getting to work on time, says he supports the change.
Though, he plans to keep leaving a neighborly note informing drivers they’re parked incorrectly, before calling it in.
“It’s annoying that people illegally park, it’s also annoying that we can’t get out of our garages. It is what it is. But we're not going to be complete monsters about it," he said. "We're going to try to do our best to be good community members and show up."
Online comments on a WMAR-2 News Facebook post asking about the change had mixed reactions.
Some agreed it’s needed but many others expressed that it’s just an excuse to make money.
"It's not a money grab," she said. " It’s a safety and enforcement component issue. If you’re not illegally parking or violating a scofflaw, you’re not going to get a citation," she said.
In Baltimore, a parking ticket can cost at minimum $32 per citation but up to a few hundred dollars, including about $300 for an abandoned vehicle.
A tow, for an average car, can cost upwards of $200, not including a daily storage fee which kicks in after two days.
Citizens can report illegally parked cars by calling 311 or submitting a report through 311 or using the app.
In 2024, parking citations dropped due to a reallocation of resources and staffing. Mcbeth does not expect that to impede current efforts this year.
