Bill seeks to ‘fix’ parking areas in the CNMI

Rep. Edwin K. Propst (Ind-Saipan) last week introduced a bill seeking to establish clearer rules on parking and parking meter zones on the CNMI.

According to House Bill 19-80, Commonwealth laws regarding special parking zones and parking meters “are vague and require clarification.”

H.B. 19-80 aims to establish rules for the creation, removal, and operation of special parking zones and parking meter zones.

The proposed legislation also aims to provide for increased enforcement of disabled parking zones by removing unnecessary language regarding the size and precise wording of signs indicating a disability parking zone.

“Finally, it is the intent of the Legislature that any person who knows or reasonably should know that they are illegally parked in a disabled parking zone will be punished in accordance with the law,” the bill noted.

Specifically, the proposed legislation wants to establish more distinct color-coding on the nature of the parking zone. For instance, “red” indicates “no stopping, no standing, or parking, while “yellow” indicates stopping only for the purpose of loading and unloading passengers.

The Department of Public Safety, in accordance with the proposed legislation, is authorized to establish parking meter zones by regulation.

In a post on social media, Propst also cited the potential of parking meters to generate revenues for the CNMI.

“There is a price we pay to live in paradise. I have not heard any tourists say they will never go back to Hawaii because they have parking meters there. Why? Because parking meters generate revenue,” Propst said.

The lawmaker said the government might as well use the numerous parking meters, particularly on Garapan. “The only thing we could do is cut them down and throw them away. Now that would truly be wasteful. I would rather at least try to see if we could generate some revenue from them,” he said.

He further stressed that his proposed legislation was introduced to “deal with the meters that are “already in existence,” addressing concerns that the parking meters will burden those who might have not enough money to pay for the parking spaces.

“For those who do not want to spend money on parking meters, simply park at the American Memorial Park, Micro Beach, or the hundreds of other possible places you could park at. You may have to walk further, but try to think positively and realize it is good exercise,” he said.