Vail could take a lesson from Frisco with parking tickets

I went over to Frisco for their barbecue event. It was very well attended even with the weather — more than 10,000 folks.

They close Main Street and allow parking on all side streets. There were vehicles everywhere, but we did not see one with a parking ticket.

I asked one of the local cops about the parking, and he said they were not giving tickets and seldom did.

What a difference from the attitude in Eagle County and Vail in particular. In our valley, if you have your car on the street in front of your own home for more than five minutes, you can bet a code enforcement person will be writing a ticket, and we have all seen cars on the frontage roads that have tickets on them.

Many of these tickets are given to our valued guests who just don't understand the signs and are very upset to find they are charged a big fine for their mistake.

I have read several letters in the paper from out-of-town guests bemoaning the fact that the town of Vail isn't more reasonable with their enforcement, but the town continues to put the pressure on.

I wonder if this is the message we want to give to the traveling public that visits Vail. It is obvious that we have a parking problem. Is irritating locals and guests a proper way to deal with it?

Randy Guerriero

Vail