Trending
STEUBENVILLE -- With a vote on proposed changes to parking regulations looming, Steubenville City Council looked Tuesday at what they're going to have to do to make sure the new rules are enforced.
The proposed changes would beef up penalties for violations -- like parking in a handicapped space without a special license plate or windshield placard -- and resolve the issue of non-payment of parking tickets by sending them to Municipal Court for adjudication, Law Director Costa Mastros said later.
Council heard the first reading of the legislation Tuesday. Unless introduced as an emergency, three readings are required, so the earliest a vote on the parking changes can be taken is Sept. 12.
"We can put down on paper whatever we want, but if it's not enforced what's the point?" First Ward Councilwoman Asantewa Anyabwile said after discussion turned to trucks being parked on city streets.
Third Ward Councilwoman Heather Hoover and second Ward Councilman Tracy McManamon voiced their frustration with a resident who leaves trucks and truck trailers on city streets — city regulations prohibit drivers from parking their rigs on the street.
Hoover said police have warned him several times he's breaking the law but he keeps doing it.
"It's parked there every single day," she said. "They can't go around the corner where (he lives) because he has other trucks parked there. I went by it Monday and there were kids playing on it. It's literally held up by a cinder block underneath the front tire ... It's on a hill.".
She said police have been to the man's home multiple times telling him to move the truck trailer, but within a few days it's back.
"I think you get a warning once," she said. "The second time you get a fine. I just feel like he's going to do that until charges come of it -- until he gets a fine or he has to appear in court."
"We've told that guy a couple of times, we've ticketed him. He's also parked in front of a hydrant," McManamon chimed in, telling council he witnessed police telling the man to move the trailer on two occasions "and he didn't do a darned thing."
Others talked about businesses downtown with trucks spilling into public areas, though City Manager Jim Mavromatis said they've ticketed that business, "but the decision council has to make is do you want to jeopardize the business being there? If they close it and move somewhere else, you've got to (be prepared.)"
"We have to re-establish the law, re-establish the rule that everyone abides by," McManamon said."
Council also opted to stick with hash marks to designate handicapped-only street parking, backing away from the idea of painting the curb yellow after learning the blue curbs would remain even after the person requesting them moved away or passed on. Mavromatis said the cost would be prohibitive to remove the blue and repaint them.
Fifth Ward Councilman Willie Paul sunshined legislation that would provide Historic Fort Steuben and the Steubenville Visitors Center with $250,000 from the city's American Rescue Plan money to use for its educational resource center/restroom addition.
He pointed out the fort relies on hotel-motel tax dollars -- frequently referred to as the bed tax -- to fund its operation, but these days the city only has 187 hotel rooms. A few years ago there were 329 rooms.
He and Anyabwile bickered over the proposal, with Anyabwile insisting the money be spent on parks and recreation.
Council also:
• Passed emergency legislation authorizing Mavromatis to apply for an Ohio River Basin H20 Ohio wetland grant.
• Heard second reading of an ordinance authorizing Mavromatis to seek proposals for professional services for the Belleview Pool renovation, and first readings of legislation authorizing him to seek bids for a splash pad at North End Park and conveying a property at 237 S. Sixth St. to the Jefferson County Port Authority "to effectuate the sale of real estate."