EAST LANSING — It can be tough to find a parking spot in East Lansing, but now the city is about to lose more 1,500 spaces.
Signs are already up for the new parking bans. The limitations are to make narrow streets like Sunset Lane a little safer for two-way traffic.
Sofia Mirate is a freshman at Michigan State and lives on one of the affected streets. She says lots of people park on Sunset Lane, especially on game day.
“I park in the street all the time so I don’t know where I am going to park anymore if I can’t park in the street.," Mirate said.
With all of the parked cars, traffic through the narrow streets can be tricky. East Lansing Fire Captain Kirk Easterbrook says It's even harder for emergency vehicles.
“You get halfway down the street and find out we can’t get all the way through, so that leaves us one option, which is to back down the street and that makes our response longer because we are dealing with the traffic,” Easterwood said.
The city will start the pilot program as soon as June 17th, which will eliminate on-street parking on seven streets
The streets include Wildwood Avenue to the end of Baldwin Court, Center Street, Durand Street, Park Lane, Southlawn Avenue, Sycamore Street and Sunset Lane.
Mirate isn’t the only one unhappy about the changes. Lea Petrona lives on Baldwin Court and says this change will affect her.
"Sometimes I go to the grocery store and park in front to bring my stuff inside instead of parking way in my driveway. So what if I forget and leave my car here?” Petrona asked.
The East Lansing City Council unanimously approved the program at its meeting in April and is anticipating frustration.
"I understand it’s going to be impacting a large group of people but in the long run, for emergency services, it will actually improve it," Easterbrook.
The second phase of the pilot program will ban parking on one-side of some streets in the Bailey neighborhood at a later date.
The city will be taking feedback over the next year to see if the changes are will become permanent in the future. You can share your comment here.
Here is a couple maps of the impacted areas
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