Some Not-So-Nice Things to Say About Parking in Denver

photo 1

This post is slightly less beer related, and yet does relate to it in some way. The other day I headed to Denver with a group of friends to celebrate an upcoming wedding and we hit up some of the great beer bars on Blake Street. We went to Freschcraft, Falling Rock, and 1UP. We had an awesome time, drank a lot of great beer, but the night ended somewhat sourly when we arrived back at the car and found a ticket on our windshield.

Earlier, when we parked our car, I took a look at the meter and made sure that I knew how long we could park in this spot. If you take a look at Picture 1 you can see in huge letters the meter reads "2 Hour Limit 8am-10pm" and right next to it, also in huge letters it reads "Overnight Parking Allowed 10pm-8am." Sounds good right? It was pretty clear to me that after 10pm we were allowed to park there. We were there at 8pm exactly so I put in 2 hours worth of money. Just to make sure I was good to go, I read a little from that yellow strip down below. It read something about moving your car at least 100 feet every two hours, whatever, it didn't apply to me so I moved on.
 

photo 2

So, when I come back, there's a ticket on the car. I decided to photograph the meter, and that's when I realized the text underneath the yellow strip. It does indeed say that you need to keep feeding the meter all night long, that payment is enforced 24 hours. See Photo 2 to see that text, which seems to not even fit on the meter correctly. Okay, so I admit that I'm wrong, I didn't read it correctly but I have a few things to say about this situation:

I believe that the city of Denver purposefully made the information confusing to read so that they would bring in lots of money through ticketing. My friend who parked down the street got a ticket for the exact same reason and had the exact same explanation about not paying after 10pm. The text at the top says in bold letters that there's a 2 Hour Limit until 10pm and that after 10pm, overnight parking is allowed. That wording suggests that payment is not required after 10pm. And this is the spot where it needs to say that we need to keep paying all night. Instead it talks about moving your car. Then, finally, it begins talking about the other thing. That's at the very bottom, we read left to right top to bottom, so if the 2nd thing is not important to read, why should the third? It's practically fine print at that point. Super misleading. Additionally I want to address the fact that they have you moving your car every 2 hours. Why would you need to do this on a street that is known for it's busy bars, pubs, and clubs? Why would they make someone who has potentially been drinking, get up and drive around to try and find a new parking spot? It sounds dangerous to me. Why? Because they figure that person will not get up to feed the meter, and they can give them a nice sized ticket instead. Denver has created a situation that actually makes it difficult for people who are spending money in some of the busiest bars in the state. I don't think this is smart planning.

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