Church members ticketed for parking in lot they have used for 30 years in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — Church members were surprised and then angry after they were ticketed in a city lot they’ve used for years during Sunday services.

Chief Investigator Rick Earle got a complaint from the South Side earlier this week.

The priest told him that practitioners are pretty upset about this.

“Yes indeed. They say they’ve used that lot for years and never had any trouble and just about a week ago they started getting parking tickets in the mail,” said Father Patrick Carpenter.

They found out on Friday, following Thanksgiving, when they got Black Friday gifts from the city, and they were gifts in the form of tickets.

Father Carpenter says his parishioners at St. Mary’s Orthodox church on the South Side have used the parking lot near 19th and Carson for years and have never been ticketed.

The tickets arrived for the first time after the Pittsburgh Parking Authority recently installed cameras and began enforcing paid parking 24/7.

Earle asked Councilman Bobby Wilson about the situation.

Earle: They put those automated cameras in and now they’re sending tickets by mail to these churchgoers?

Wilson: Ah…we’ve got a lot to confess.

While the authority posted signs about the new hours, councilman Wilson, who’s on the parking board, suggested more public input before making changes and more publicity to alert drivers.

“Hopefully they can rectify that because people are just trying to go about their [lives] and trying to participate at Sunday mass. I don’t want to deter anyone from doing that,” Wilson said.

Earle took the concerns to Parking Authority Director Dave Onorato.

Earle: You understand their concerns? They’ve been doing this for years.

Onorato: Just because you’ve been doing it for years doesn’t make it right.

Onorato has agreed to waive the tickets and is working on a solution that will likely allow the church members to use that lot on Sunday mornings.

“That’s the plan, but we want to come up with a permanent solution that works with their input that works for everybody,” Onorato said.

“By the grace of God, the matter has been rectified. They will be able to park in the lot from nine to one and not have to worry about tickets...for free,” said Father Carpenter.

Several members from another nearby church also use that lot, and they, too, were ticketed.

More than 30 tickets have been issued, but again, the authority says they will all be dismissed.

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