Detroit set to ramp up parking enforcement

Beginning tomorrow, people who spend their evenings in downtown Detroit will have to pay for the privilege of parking on city streets.

The city is stepping up its enforcement at meters and in illegal parking zones – extending the hours meter readers prowl the streets until 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Parking enforcement has been ending at 6:30.

James Canty manages Detroit’s parking department. He says the hope is that people who’ve racked up expensive fines for outstanding tickets will settle them:

"If they have an exorbitant parking record with very high amounts, we would entertain settlement amounts, reduced amounts, payment arrangements – anything to get them to settle their parking records."

The Detroit Free Press reports that the city is extending its parking enforcement with an eye toward doubling the revenues that come in to the city through fines. But Canty insists the main motive is public safety.