Is Birmingham Headed For A Parking Crisis?

Since July, Birmingham has issued over 46,000 tickets, but only a little more than half have been paid. As WBHM and the weekly newspaper WELD report, there’s an attitude in Birmingham that you don’t have to pay parking tickets.

“That’s my third one today,” a woman told WELD, seemingly defeated. “It’s not like I’m going to pay it though.”

Is the current system of street side parking sustainable or is Birmingham headed for a parking crisis? For more, WBHM’s Rachel Osier Lindley spoke to Nick Patterson, editor of WELD. He discussed WELD’s cover story on the city’s parking issues.

This story is part of WBHM and WELD’s joint look at issues facing the city of Birmingham’s parking infrastructure. For more, listen to Birmingham’s Broken Parking Meters by WBHM’s Ashley Cleek. With more restaurants, businesses and residents returning to the city center once again, those steel gray meters with an appetite for quarters are stirring concerns among those who live and work downtown.