TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Back to Parking on Front Street/Sidewalk?

What did they truly think would happen?

Perhaps "NO PARKING" signs? The signs work well along the road at the airport warning of the jet blast!

Yup. This is the same guy who had the brilliant idea to re-route the Beacon Hill road.

Scary!!

On at least one day last week they had the central section of Front street totally blocked off like a pedestrian mall. Actually it was quite nice. Not sure how often this happens but it was not crowd related since there were no cruise ships in that day.

It didn't take long. I didn't remember people parking on the sidewalk in P'burg when we were there in June 2017. I was right. Note the bollards on the sidewalk

The closure seems to coincide with days that have multiple ships in port. Not sure why they would close the street when there were no ships in.

Looks like Emmanuel wants to go back to the "good ole days".

I thought the closure of Front Street to traffic and parking had to do with robbery prevention.....huh, guess not.

I do miss the days when you could park in spaces along the street.

And the problems continue.

Daily Herald Article

Is it just me or am I missing something? Ticket and tow vehicles parked in such a manner that they either restrict traffic flow (emergency vehicles have to be able to flow through) or have to jump a curbing to park or block pedestrian access.

Possibly not enough tow vehicles to handle the volume?

Honestly, about the only place I have seen much towing is cars parked illegally/waiting at the airport and in Simpson Bay during Regatta.

Sounds like a business opportunity, if I had the funds to start a towing company, lol!

Yeah, I think you're missing something. Simply put back the bollards.. Problem solved!!! They should never have been taken to begin with.

Here's what I am missing since I am not a regular visitor to the island. If they put the bollards back, where do the motorists park? Are there public/private parking lots available and if so do they charge to park? We all know that we look for FREE parking whether we are at home or away. (What a score it is to find a parking spot downtown with time still left on the meter.) If there is free parking at lots nearby then the bollards definitely make it safer for all. If the parking lots charge or if they are like the ones here in Sarasota that are reserved only for shoppers or your car is towed, then people will try to park free even if it blocks the roadway/pedestrian walkways, UNLESS the parking has consequences. These consequences could include expensive tickets +/or towing. If you park haphazardly in downtown Orlando, Boston, Sarasota or Lakeland, what happens? Your car is ticketed and towed. Sorry that I missed something but I don't understand how the parking problem is allowed to continue when public safety is involved. Just my .02

The people who are parking there are 95% people who work in those shops. There's not a lot of parking in downtown P'burg, but that's a whole different issue. According to the brilliant minister who removed the bollards to begin with, it wasn't to provide more parking, as it always was illegal to park there, but people did it anyway, before the bollards were placed there. The minister said he did it to help pedestrians. Well, guess what? The ultimate effect has been to make it more difficult for everyone to navigate the area, be they walking or driving. This guy doesn't think things through. Again, this is the same dude who thinks it makes sense to re-route the Beacon Hill Road.

There are several pay lots and also some free parking but it fills up fast. Some merchants will comp a couple of hours of parking if doing business there, otherwise it is around $1/hour.

Many tourist areas have little or no free parking. Some FL beaches I have been to recently charge an hourly fee. While also recently in Traverse City MI (after an absence of 2 years) I found all the free street parking had been replaced with meters. The lots that were $10 3 years ago were now $20 for the event we were at.

You have to understand, things work differently in SXM. A lot of laws/rules are rather randomly enforced if at all and the placement of a sign does little or no good at all.

From a pedestrian standpoint, the cars parking on the street/sidewalk creates a lot more problems than the parking barriers ever did.

There was a time, back in the day, when few on the island drove and even fewer owned cars. Parking on Front Street was not a problem back in the day....... Time marches on and things change. Drastically.

Today, virtually everyone owns or has access to cars. The bollards were placed along Front and Back Streets for a reason and the Minister in charge of removing them, IMHO, blew it big time. Just as he did in suggesting the closure of the road between the runway and Maho Beach, again, IMHO..

Removing the bollards and allowing vehicles to park along these streets is absolutely unsafe for pedestrians and residents alike who actually live at or frequent some of the Front and Back Street locations. The haphazard parking of cars along Front Street in particular would not allow for a fire or other large emergency vehicle to pass through, God forbid they were needed, not to mention the safety hazard this creates for distracted tourists and residents alike who might unwittingly step out into the road from behind one of the illegally parked cars and into the path of an oncoming vehicle.

The bollards need to be put back in place BEFORE something happens.

What is this man thinking?! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Well if there's some parking, fee based or free, then I agree that some parking prevention methods need to be placed. Signs are just "suggestions" as we all know so the stanchions would be a good idea.

The stanchions WERE a good idea, until this guy removed them.. They still are. Goodness knows how much it cost to remove them, but they need to put them back.

I'm glad they are gone. If they were there just to keep cars from parking there a stiff fine or towing for violators would be better as long as it was enforced.

And therein lies the problem. It will not be enforced as there is not enough manpower to do so.

That really never made sense to me but it is probably true. I'm sure you could find volunteers to get paid overtime to just walk up and down the street and fine/tow illegal parkers. Two/three tickets would probably pay their salary for the day and everything after that is profit AND gets the desired result.

As I stated earlier, the ONLY places I have seen towing enforced has been the airport and Simpson Bay area during Regatta. It just does not happen.

Kind of like obeying the signs regarding jet-blast and the danger associated with that.

We will see....

I did not see it in the online version, but there was a story today in the Daily Herald where 26 cars were towed over the weekend and 46 tickets given out for parking on Front and Back Streets. Interestingly, they were apparently locals, who parked there overnight..