Kraus: Sunday parking meter collection a possibility on South Side

Pittsburgh City Council set the stage this week for extended parking meter enforcement on the South Side Flats — the city’s weekend party hot spot that has seen increased crowding and violence in recent months.

Council on Tuesday approved new language to the parking code that could lay the groundwork for meter collection on Sundays in the destination area lined with restaurants and bars, Councilman Bruce

Kraus said.

“This is part of this whole sort of comprehensive ‘what do we do with the South Side right now?’ ” Mr. Kraus said. “The public safety director and I have had conversations about cleanup. The [additional parking] funds provide for that.”

No new meter collection has gone into effect, but Mr. Kraus said Sundays on the South Side have seen “impactful” crowds.

“We created provisions to do such but it is not enacted yet,” he said.

The city instituted a “Parking

Enhancement District” in June 2017 in the South Side Flats that allowed for meter collection until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, rather than the 6 p.m. cutoff in other neighborhoods. Extra revenue goes into a sequestered fund to pay for public safety and infrastructure, according to the Parking Authority.

The extra parking enforcement was just one of several measures, including closing traffic lanes, enforcing permit parking areas and providing a shuttle, in response to a fatal shooting in May 2017 at the Rowdy

Buck bar on East Carson Street.

Now, the summer of 2021 is again causing alarm after a string of nonfatal shootings in the Flats — and a homicide just blocks away in the South Side Slopes.

Pittsburgh Public Safety has rerouted traffic and provided extra police presence in a response to increased unruly crowds and hostile situations, according to the city.

Council’s change to the parking meter enforcement code is awaiting Mayor Bill Peduto’s signature. The mayor’s office did not immediately respond for comment.