Downtown Bangor Parking Enforcement Goes Digital

The Bangor City Council has voted to move toward a parking enforcement system that would use pictures and GPS technology.

The days of the parking enforcement officer walking a downtown beat with a piece of chalk and a ticket book may be long gone. A new system, that's been proposed by the Bangor City Council, would include cameras mounted on a city vehicle that will track how long a car has been parked, through the use of GPS and pictures. City officials told WVII-TV that the pictures taken of license plates would be deleted, so as not to violate anyone's privacy. Pictures not related to violations will be deleted after 72 hours.

It will make the enforcement efforts more streamlined and will allow parking enforcement to cover a larger area. 'Downtown' encompasses much more, these days, than just the Main Street strip, and so councilors want to make sure that visitors are able to find parking and that others are not overstaying the 1-hour limits on some spaces.

Last month, councilors voted to fund the change through the city's budget. Then the proposal to make the change was voted on at Monday's council meeting, and passed unanimously. The new system is set to start on October 1st. once the city has purchased a new vehicle that's been properly equipped.