Odd-even parking enforcement in GR

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The odd-even parking ordinance in Grand Rapids causes problems and raises many questions every year when the snow starts to fall.

Recently, police have not been enforcing the parking method because snowplow drivers have been so busy keeping the main roads clear. But with light snow in the forecast, plows are sure to make it to those side roads soon. That means officials will start issuing tickets.

"When I lived over on the other side of Heritage Hill we used to get tickets quite often," said Ashley Getman. "It can be kind of hard just to figure out what day to park where."

The ordinance states from November to April on even days between 1 a.m. and 6 p.m. residents must park on the side of the road with even address numbers, and on odd days the side with odd address numbers.

The confusion comes at night. Any time residents park past 6 p.m. and plan to stay overnight, they have to park according to the next day's date. This makes the rule more difficult to follow, but some residents disagree.

"I don't think it's that confusing, but it's probably more frustrating than confusing," said driver Charles Baker-Clark.

Baker-Clark said he sees people parking on both sides of his street all the time, but he thinks it's because they have nowhere else to park.

"Some of the buildings here have as many as six apartments in them, and the parking is confounded by the fact that especially during the day that people from the Community College park all the way through our neighborhood," said Baker-Clark.

That may be the case, but the City said plows have to get through the roads in order to keep them clear.