On holidays such as Labor Day, you may cautiously eye Bellingham’s street meters downtown or corner pay stations in the Fairhaven neighborhood and wonder why neither have signs that say parking is free on city holidays.
If you’re especially curious (or paranoid), you might even search the city website for any mention of exceptions to the Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. parking fees. And find both the hourly parking page and city parking FAQ silent on the matter.
You may then slowly come to the conclusion confirmed by Natalie Monro, communications and outreach coordinator for Bellingham’s Public Works department: “Technically, holidays are not free parking in the city.”
Yes, some easily found outdated information from years past remained online that said holiday parking is free.
It’s not. However, law on the books isn’t always the same as law enforced.
“Our parking team does not typically work on holidays, so there is reduced enforcement, but we do reserve the right to respond when needed,” Monro said, citing examples that include investigating complaints or assisting during holiday events.
So it may be wise to keep that cash or credit card handy for parking downtown or in Fairhaven, just in case enforcement does not take a holiday.
Since this story was published, the organization webpage with the outdated information has been revised to remove references to free holiday parking.
WTD is published online Mondays and in print Fridays. Have a suggestion for a "What's the Deal With?" inquiry? Email us at newstips@cascadiadaily.com.
Frank Catalano writes about business and related topics for CDN; reach him at frankcatalano@cascadiadaily.com.
