Dan Rodricks Talks Ellicott City Parking

Parking is free in the Historic District until Jan. 1, but a two-hour limit is still in effect and being enforced.

Just ask WYPR's Midday host Dan Rodricks.

In his column for the Baltimore Sun, Rodricks recounts a story told to him by Debbie Bakalich, who said she and her girlfriends have a tradition of shopping in Ellicott City during the holidays to support small businesses.

On Nov. 24 - Small Business Saturday - Bakalich and her friends spent the day in Ellicott City, Rodricks wrote, each spending $200 to $300 during a full day of shopping. 

"... I get to my car and there is a $35 ticket for exceeding two hours. All of Ellicott City is small business, so don't you think, on Small Business Saturday, they would not give out tickets?"

Rodricks said he felt Bakalich's pain and had a suggestion for Ellicott City and other areas with small businesses:

"If one is urged to support small retailers during the holiday shopping season," he writes in the Sun, "One might expect the municipalities in which they are located to take a holiday on parking tickets."

Parking is free in the Historic District until Jan. 1, after which new parking rates will take effect in some of the Districts parking lots. New, multi-space meters on Main Street and Maryland Avenue also will take effect at the beginning of 2013.

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