Anyone who has lived in downtown Richmond for a decent length of time has probably noticed at one time or another the signs on W. Broad St, in the VCU/lower Fan area, that make parking on Broad St illegal between 11 PM and 4 AM, seven days a week. Originally put into place about 12 years ago, this parking regulation was designed to cut down on cruising, a late-night phenomenon on Broad St at the time that involved large groups of people hanging out on sidewalks and in the street as cars with loud stereos circled a several-block stretch of Broad. We could probably debate about whether or not the creation of legal barriers to this activity was merited at the time, but it was certainly effective--within a few weeks of beginning the practice of blanket ticketing and towing for those still in the area at 11 PM, the cruising had come to a stop, and has never started back up. But now, over a decade later, these regulations, rather than preventing a potential problem, are starting to cause one.
Twelve years ago, along the stretch of W. Broad St between Belvidere and Boulevard that the parking regulation in question affects, there were few businesses that catered to a late night crowd. By the time a year or so had passed since the cruising issue had been dealt with, so few people were attempting to park overnight on Broad St that those few who did so largely went unmolested. In recent years, businesses that remain open along that stretch have become much more common, with nightclubs like The Camel and The Republic opening on the 1600 and 2000 blocks of W. Broad, and the Ramz Hall complex on the 900 block of W. Broad containing multiple restaurants that remain open until after midnight on the weekends. A few months ago, while parking outside of the Qdoba at Ramz Hall, I reflected on the "No Parking 11 PM-4 AM Mon-Sun" sign above my car, thinking of it as a relic of an earlier era. Surely the police wouldn't try to enforce this law now, I thought.
Last night, Rand Burgess, owner of The Camel restaurant and nightclub, was arrested. According to a message posted on facebook by a Camel employee, Burgess saw that police were outside the venue ticketing cars owned by his customers, and went out to ask the police to give him 5 minutes to make an announcement and allow Camel patrons to move their cars before continuing to issue tickets. Instead of acquiescing to Burgess's request, the police on the scene promptly arrested him for obstruction of justice (see photo above, also from facebook). Burgess's arrest seems like an overzealous reaction by the police, to say the least. But it does make sense if you consider what the police were doing on the scene in the first place. Allowing the owner of the Camel, the only business on the 1600 block of W. Broad St that is active after 11 PM most nights, to warn his customers of impending tickets would surely rob the police of the opportunity to issue most, if not all of the tickets they'd issue that night. The sole reason there were cars available for ticketing in this area was that The Camel was open and full of customers.
Apparently, rather than seeing the buildup of peaceful, profitable late-night activity on W. Broad St as a positive development, local police have taken it as a moneymaking opportunity. Rather than removing the long-dormant and now-unnecessary parking restrictions that affect Broad St in the middle of the night, a step that would respect the businesses that have revitalized this corridor and encourage further development, police are seizing the opportunity to make some easy money through selective enforcement of a parking regulation that hasn't been observed in years. Last night's incident at The Camel was not the beginning of this tactic--an article on rvaplaylist.com mentions that both a local blogger and the band Marionette have recently been ticketed under this regulation. However, Rand Burgess's arrest indicates that local police have definitely realized the sort of gold mine they have on their hands with Broad St's recent upswing in late-night activity, and they're not going to let business owners stand in the way of their decision to make money through ticketing of customers.
This regressive action on the part of city police is terrible for the local business community. It's one thing for a local business to have to respect the parking lots of neighboring establishments (any visitors to Twisters in the late 90s will surely remember Jerry Burd announcing over the PA system, "Do not park in the Community Pride parking lot, you WILL get towed"). But for a business owner to lose blocks and blocks worth of on-street parking, especially for an establishment like The Camel or The Republic which does not have an off-street site to offer, is a bit much for the city to ask. Sudden enforcement of an outdated parking restriction after business owners and customers have had years to grow used to said restriction remaining unenforced is also a pretty shady move. And when customers are suddenly unable to find a parking space within walking distance of the establishments they're attempting to patronize, how much money that could have been spent at local businesses will be lost? Rather than seizing the opportunity to make money off of people who understandably thought they'd be able to park in an unmetered spot in front of an actively operating business that they're attempting to patronize, the City Of Richmond should lift the W. Broad St. parking restriction. If RVA is truly an art-focused city, then we should see encouragement of late-night arts-focused activity, rather than selective enforcement of outdated restrictions. This short-term gain for the city's coffers will represent a loss for everyone in the long term.