Downtown U.S. Post Office customers can now park and send a letter without possibility a $15 fine.
Customers can now park at no cost on Monroe Street for 30 minutes. Inside the parking lot, the city removed several meters to accommodate 30-minute customer parking. Patrons parking at the remaining meters are expected to pay or display a valid on-street permit.
Between 20 and 60 people were being ticketed each month for not dropping change in the meter. Irritated patrons over the summer wanted to know why they got citations for parking in spaces with signs attached to meters emblazoned “For post office use only.”
The Fort Myers City Council voted to remove the meters. The Redevelopment Agency chose to keep some meters in the lot and open up several free spots.
“We felt that there was plenty of parking. That lot is never filled with post office patrons,” said Michaelene Beaudin, program coordinator for Redevelopment Agency.
A Naples-based land trust owns the building. Fort Myers owns the lot and farms out the enforcement to Standard Parking, which handles all city parking enforcement downtown.
