St. Petersburg parking fines get more expensive

Well, new tonight, overstaying your parking time just got more expensive in St. Petersburg. The city voted to increase parking penalties by nearly double to curb a growing problem. FOX 13's Breonna Ardondo has details in downtown St. Pete. Nobody wants a parking ticket, but here in St. Petersburg, city council said it was cheaper than just paying for parking on some days. And that's one reason why St. Pete City Council voted Thursday to raise parking penalties across the board. Before, if you paid for parking and stayed over your time, you would be fined $17.50. But now, that fee is up to $32.50, nearly double. A city council member said he personally saw people deliberately not pay for parking for long periods and rather take the fine to save money. I spoke with a few visitors to St. Pete from around the Tampa Bay region about it, and they say paying for parking is easy and fairly priced. I think it's about $5 for two hours, though. So you kind of have a time limit, which stinks. You're kind of in a rush to do what you want to do, and everything's sort of spread out. But, I mean, it's pretty reasonable, I think. It's not like I walk out of here thinking I'm in New York City or anything. I mean, you don't pay more than $20 max, so maybe $10 or $12 to park for the night. We're parked here for one hour for $2.75. Not bad. The city also raised parking penalties for no parking zones, fire hydrants, and more by $15. Plus, they updated their residential parking permits. City Council says the money from these fines will go towards Safe Streets, which is an effort to make transportation and roadways safer for everyone. Reporting in St. Petersburg, I'm Brianna Arredondo, Fox 13 News.