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Annapolis Leaders Crack Down On Parking

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Late night visitors, loud bars and no parking are just a few of the problems facing Annapolis citizens. Now a new parking enforcement system may change that.

Gigi Barnett explains how the city is cracking down.

During the day, Annapolis' quaint streets attract visitors from all over but when the sun goes down and the bars open up, the guests linger, frustrating homeowners like Barbara Everson.

"I woke up this morning about 4 o'clock," Barbara Everson said. "It's all night."

A major problem is the parking on narrow historic streets, which has gotten worse since bars extended their drinking hours. But now the city has a new parking enforcement system that tracks illegally parked cars using license plates. It's called the Automatic License Plate Recognition, or ALPR for short. It's faster at finding illegally parked cars than what the city has now.

"It will aid parking enforcement officers in their job in the late evening hours," said Richard Newell, DOT Director.

"They'll get the tickets but they don't pay them," Everson said.

Dave Knutzen runs Federal House Bar & Grill. He believes homeowners should have the parking space they need, but says the crackdown will hurt his workers because they will have nowhere to park.

"Parking is a challenge," he said. "Every day going out every couple of hours to move your car or feed the meter---it's tough."

Annapolis leaders raked in more than $77,000 in parking fines over the summer.

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