Parking battles continue downtown

AUSTIN (KXAN) - For Downtown Austin residents, parking is a constant battle, especially when big events like South by Southwest are in town. That makes this one of the busiest times of year for  tow truck companies that are left to fix the problem.

Residents along San Marcos Street are now fighting back by getting the city to put up new signs and getting towing companies to haul off cars parked illegally.

Mark Rogers has lived on San Marcos Street, just east of Interstate Highway 35 and north of Cesar Chavez Street, for 26 years. He said finding parking in his own neighborhood when big events are in town is a problem.

"If there were ever a fire, someone had a heart attack, or whatever, literally police and ambulances could not get in and out of the neighborhood," said Rogers.

It's a problem that the neighborhood stood up to fix. This year the community pulled together in time for SXSW  by putting up signs to let visitors know not to park in the area.

"The city has put up signs that say 'No parking, residential area 20 permits only,'" Rogers said. "They were ticketing and had tow trucks as well, so they were serious."

With new enforcement in place in neighborhoods across Austin, towing companies like J&J Towing have been keeping busy. With SXSW under way, they've seen an increase in revenue of about 30- to 40 percent.

"When you account for the fact that the University of Texas is out for spring break it's a fairly significant amount, " said J&J's Tim Sapp.
 
It's something residents along San Marcos Street say has made all the difference in improving their congested neighborhood.

"Being able to go to the grocery store and come back and get into the neighborhood, and being able to park somewhere near your house, it's great as far as convenience and so on," said Rogers.
 
As well as a lesson learned for those who park illegally, and come back to find their cars long gone.

"When you are parking your car never make the assumption that you will never get caught," said Sapp. "People just don't seem to respond without some kind of enforcement."