Finding a parking space downtown is tough enough. But what if the odds are stacked against you from the beginning? Target 11 discovered that nearly 200 city workers get a parking pass that allows them to park for free at any city meter.

We requested the list of all of the employees who have these special passes.

Click To See The Full List Workers With Parking Pass

The Pittsburgh Parking Authority supplied the list and you can see the entire list on our web site. We weren't surprised to see the names of the Mayor and City Council members, but we were surprised to see the list go on and on and on. There were workers from the mayor's office, the planning department, the urban redevelopment authority and parks and recreation.

We showed the list to City Council President Doug Shields, who has one of the passes but said he rarely uses it. Shields said some of the names on the list are employees who spend their day out in the field and need quick and easy access to parking.

"Not everybody works in an office in the city, and if they're in the field, you have auditors from finance, the building inspectors use their own vehicles. There are a host of reasons why that number could be so high," Shields said.

Some of the passes come with restrictions, but others give employees free access 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

After watching several vehicles park in the same spot on different days for hours at a time, we went to Parking Authority Director Dave Onorato.

Target 11 investigator Rick Earle: Is it permissible under the guidelines to use that as your primary parking space?

Onorato: No. If we were to notice the same vehicle in the same spot every day, we would question it.

But we never saw tickets on any of those vehicles. And some city employees who examined the list questioned why so many employees had them, especially employees who spend most of their time in their offices downtown. The parking authority has been handing out these passes to city employees for the past decade. Onorato, whose brother is County Executive Dan Onorato, said city department directors ultimately decide who gets the passes.

Shields said he will take a closer look at how the passes are handed out.

"Everything deserves scrutiny. I have no problem with taking a look at that and if it's appropriate then it's appropriate, and if it's not, then you take it away, " said Shields.

City Council Members and the Mayor pay $70 per month for their designated spaces right outside the City-County building.