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Home My WebLink About11-10-2011 Handheld device to improve downtown parking system 04 SOUTH � O U d W PEACE a 1865 Office of the Mayor NEWS RELEASE November 10,2011 Time Handheld device to improve downtown parking system Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications& Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564 or Debrah Jennings, Program Manager, Department of Community and Economic Development, 235-9371 Just as many school-teachers have traded in their chalk and blackboards for newer technology, the City of South Bend's on-street parking officers will no longer apply chalk marks to the tires of vehicles in time-limited, downtown parking zones. Attendants now use an automated handheld tracking device, which will record a vehicle's license plate number, log the time it was viewed by the parking attendant and take a digital photograph of the parked vehicle. The updated system provides the City with documented evidence of what attendants witness on the street—and it will mean an end to hand-written tickets. It is the latest efficiency measure added by City government. The change will result in the increased availability of more parking spaces closer to downtown destinations. It follows previous efforts, including free, two-hour parking in the City-owned parking garage at Main Street and Colfax Avenue. "We hope this will increase the availability of on-street parking spaces in the downtown area by ensuring that premium parking spaces are used by those patronizing downtown businesses and restaurants," said Debrah Jennings, program manager for the City of South Bend's Department of Community and Economic Development. "It is not our intent to catch violators, but to warn those who've learned to abuse the previous system that this new method can't be erased or subverted." The change is the first step in broader changes to downtown parking, including a planned automation of paid parking in downtown parking garages. Two of the three City-owned downtown garages already are automated and plans are in place to automate the third with new technology to better assist the needs of visitors.