Despite Incident, Saturday Manayunk Parking is Free (After 11 a.m.)

An inopportune sign led to 13 parking tickets Saturday in Manayunk. However, the Philadelphia Parking Authority, with the help of the Manayunk Development Corporation, rescinded the violations, as a nearby sign misled the public.

Throughout Philadelphia, metered street parking on Saturdays until year's end is free—after 11 a.m.—to promote shopping at local businesses around the holidays. Signs at parking meters along Main Street alerted customers to the free parking, but neglected to include the 11 a.m. caveat.

NBC10 reported on Monday that the PPA ticketed 13 cars before 11 a.m. Dec. 8. One person tipped the television station off on the $26 ticket tucked in their windshield, directly in front of a sign that read, “Meters are free on Saturdays. Happy Holidays from MNYK.”

The Manayunk Development Corporation began discussions with the PPA and got the agency to revoke the tickets.

"We take responsibility for a confusing message on the tags (which our office created) and now know that we should have included the times (beginning at 11 a.m.) on the tags. After all, hindsight is indeed 20-20," MDC spokesperson Alicia Dietzmann said.

On Tuesday, Dietzmann emphasized that parking will remain free Dec. 15, 22 and 29 in Manayunk after 11 a.m., and not to worry about any hiccups.

"After reading a lot of the comments on the article, we got the feeling that people thought we were trying to trick shoppers into not paying for a meter so that the PPA could issue all of the tickets they wanted to," Dietzmann said. "This is simply not true, we were trying to do something nice for visitors by placing these cute little tags with bright red bows on all of the meters."

Visit Manayunk.com for more info.