PITTSBURGH — 11 Investigate first told you about church members being ticketed after parking in city lots during Sunday services. Now, we’ve learned that Vietnam veterans and their families were ticketed while attending a memorial service.
All of this is happening at city-owned lots on Carson Street in the South Side, where the parking authority has installed cameras and started charging to park 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Earle spoke with veteran Glenn Connor, who attended the ceremony last month, and received a ticket in the mail.
Earle: What was your reaction?
Connor: Wow, so I said I didn’t see nobody down there.
Earle: You didn’t see any parking enforcement officers?
Connor: No, no. They just said it’s AI (artificial intelligence) now, so the human factor is out the window.
Connor got a $25 parking ticket in the mail after parking in the city lot at the intersection of 18th Street and Carson Street on the morning of Nov. 16.
Connor and approximately 100 others gathered just feet from the parking lot at the Vietnam War Memorial to remember and honor 10 men from the South Side whose names are etched on a monument.
They gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
Connor and the others have been coming here twice a year, on Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day, for 30 years.
In the past, Connor, who served in Vietnam in the 1st Cavalry Division, said city parking enforcement officers would always cut them a break.
Connor: I just said we are only going to be here a half hour or 45 minutes, don’t worry about it, you’re fine.
Earle: That’s when they would patrol on foot.
Connor: Right. Now, it’s the eye in the sky.
The Parking Authority recently installed cameras to watch for drivers who park and don’t pay, and it’s now enforced 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
11 Investigates recently told you how church members at a nearby city lot were also ticketed on Sunday mornings while attending services. The authority agreed to waive their tickets.
“It’s a long-standing tradition that we don’t enforce on Sundays, so I want to get to the bottom of where that change came from,” Pittsburgh Councilmember Bob Charland said.
Charland told Earle that he doesn’t know why the city is now ticketing on Sunday mornings.
“The point of the Parking Authority is not to generate revenue, the point of the Parking Authority is to create turnover of parking spaces to make sure parking is available for people,” said Charland, who was clearly agitated by the new procedures.
Connor, who helped build this memorial 30 years ago, said one of the veterans reached out to the parking authority, but they said there was nothing they could do.
After we reached out to Councilmember Charland, the Authority agreed to dismiss the tickets.
Earle: Your reaction to that?
Connor: Thank you, you know a lot of us are getting up there and now a lot of us are on fixed incomes so every little bit helps and besides that I mean, there’s 10 men on there that gave their lives.
Earle: And you guys were just coming to honor those guys?
Connor: Right.
Earle had reached out to the Parking Authority for several days. They finally got back to him on Monday afternoon and said they will no longer issue tickets in those camera-monitored lots on Sundays.
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