Sioux Falls should try this to reduce DUI’s (H/T – AG)

I have often felt that SF needs to get more progressive with transportation. If I were mayor, it would be on my top ten list. We also must realize that transportation also relates to public safety, the fewer drunk drivers, the safer our roads. Seattle is trying this out;

Today, the city is launching a program that allows people driving to concerts, bars, clubs, or other late-night social activities in Seattle to pre-pay for up to two hours of parking for the following morning—essentially giving drivers a grace period until 10:00 a.m. to pick up find their cars after a night of drinking

The parking program, which is part of Mayor Mike McGinn’s Nightlife Initiative to bolster safety and access to Seattle’s nightlife scene, is being rolled out along the Pike-Pine corridor and Capitol Hill (eventually it’ll apply to all pay stations). Blue and yellow informational stickers on parking pay stations explain that after 10:00 p.m., drivers can purchase two hours of parking for the following morning (from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.). This will hopefully encourage social drinkers to find another way home and retrieve their cars the next day.

“I’m about to hand you a ticket”

Also read the Nightlife Initiative, some very interesting ideas;

Of the nightlife initiative’s eight points, a so-called meat-head ordinance is getting both bar owners and residents excited. The ordinance, which is currently sponsored by city council member Nick Licata, would allow police to issue tickets for some public nuisance behaviors—such as fighting and drunk and disorderly conduct—between the hours of midnight and 5:00 a.m. in targeted nightlife areas. “Currently, we have limited means for dealing with these people,” says SPD spokeswoman Det. Reneé Witt. “If they create enough of a disturbance, say if they’re fighting, we can take them off the street.” Obviously, the benefit of such an ordinance is that there’s an immediate penalty for wasted yahoos, it might dissuade these people from being drunk, public messes in the future, and itkeeps officers on the streets instead of having to process and book them.

If we gave tickets for people being drunk meat-heads in SF, we could raise money for a new Events Center in a couple of years.