While shoppers in downtown Fort Smith may think the parking meters are a nuisance, police say they're supposed to actually bring in more customers.
"We actually serve a legitimate purpose, to encourage vehicular flow to those businesses," said Sgt. Greg Copeland with the Fort Smith Police Department. "If the meters weren't there, people would park all day long in one spot and that'd restrict customer access to those businesses."
Copeland says they serve around 400 to 500 tickets every month to people that either don't feed their parking meters, or let them expire. The tickets start at five dollars, and increase every day they aren't paid.
But business owners along Garrison Avenue say the tickets are being issued too aggressively, and it's costing them customers.
"We lost two consigners over parking tickets," said Lauren Lance at Emi-Lee's Consignment. "The meter maid banged on their window as they were pulling out and then gave them a ticket because their meter had ran out."
Other business owners say they're trying to find ways to make sure their customers aren't scared away by the possibility of a ticket, even going so far as to watching shopper's meters for them.
"We offer parking credits, we've even been known to put a quarter in the meter for them if they don't have change on them," said Jami Coleman at Creative Kitchen.
According to Sgt. Copeland, the police department has looked into complaints of overzealous meter enforcement, and reviewed their goals for parking in the downtown area.
"We're not going to wait around and give tickets the moment a meter expires," he said. "We're going to give people ample time to get out, put money in the meter, or come back out from what they're doing and put money in."
In the meantime, shoppers have found other ways to avoid the issue altogether.
"When it's nice outside I like to walkÂ… so I usually park elsewhere, where it's free," said shopper Whitney Easley
"We actually serve a legitimate purpose, to encourage vehicular flow to those businesses," said Sgt. Greg Copeland with the Fort Smith Police Department. "If the meters weren't there, people would park all day long in one spot and that'd restrict customer access to those businesses."
Copeland says they serve around 400 to 500 tickets every month to people that either don't feed their parking meters, or let them expire. The tickets start at five dollars, and increase every day they aren't paid.
But business owners along Garrison Avenue say the tickets are being issued too aggressively, and it's costing them customers.
"We lost two consigners over parking tickets," said Lauren Lance at Emi-Lee's Consignment. "The meter maid banged on their window as they were pulling out and then gave them a ticket because their meter had ran out."
Other business owners say they're trying to find ways to make sure their customers aren't scared away by the possibility of a ticket, even going so far as to watching shopper's meters for them.
"We offer parking credits, we've even been known to put a quarter in the meter for them if they don't have change on them," said Jami Coleman at Creative Kitchen.
According to Sgt. Copeland, the police department has looked into complaints of overzealous meter enforcement, and reviewed their goals for parking in the downtown area.
"We're not going to wait around and give tickets the moment a meter expires," he said. "We're going to give people ample time to get out, put money in the meter, or come back out from what they're doing and put money in."
In the meantime, shoppers have found other ways to avoid the issue altogether.
"When it's nice outside I like to walkÂ… so I usually park elsewhere, where it's free," said shopper Whitney Easley
