Community Corner
FL Beach Town Issues Local State Of Emergency For July 4th Parking
To battle illegal parking over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Bradenton Beach issued a local state of emergency, reports said.
BRADENTON BEACH, FL — Ahead of the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend, Bradenton Beach has issued a local state of emergency over parking issues, according to multiple reports.
The state of emergency, in effect over the July 4-6 weekend, was requested by police Chief John Crosby after a number of beachgoers ignored “no parking” signs over the Memorial Day holiday, ABC 7 reported.
“It’s not that there’s anything wrong, but we’re trying to be proactive,” Cosby said, according to the Anna Maria Sun. “I need to be able to put people on call and pay out some extra overtime and there are some requirements in our emergency ordinance so I would like to activate that.”
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The motion was unanimously passed by the Bradenton Beach City Council.
Find out what's happening in Bradentonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
During Memorial Day weekend, higher numbers of people visited Bradenton Beach than normal, WFLA said. Beach parking areas were full by 10 a.m. and many drivers parked illegally.
“You can’t park on the side of the road or anything like that, but we had people that holiday weekend parked on side streets, our avenues, just wherever they could find an open space, they were parking,” Lt. Lenard Diaz said.
This created a safety issue, especially for pedestrians, bicyclists, and ambulances and other emergency vehicles, he said.
Many beachgoers weren’t even bothered by the parking citation fee, which increased from $35 to $75 in an attempt to improve parking in the city.
“We had a few that said ‘$75? Well, we will pay it, if that is what it costs to be here today. I’ve got a spot, I will pay it, and that will be good,'” Diaz said.
Cosby said that people had no problem parking signs near the beaches, according to reports.
“We’re ticketing and they’re laughing at our $75 ticket so that’s something we are going to discuss at the budget meeting,” he said.
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