PARKING officers to target drivers hogging residential bays will be hired under plans to blitz inner-city suburbs.
City of Vincent councillors have approved the crackdown, with a specialised parking unit, including two dedicated parking officers, to operate for a year from July.
Cr John Carey began in February pushing for the extra force to keep residents from being “parked out” of their own streets.
“Due to a range of issues, they are deciding to park here for free and walk or commute into the city,” Cr Carey said.
“The car parking holiday is over for commuters.
“If you’ve been judging that you get away with one parking infringement per month, it works out quite beneficial, but if you’re being hit every second day with a fine then you’ll make a different decision about whether to park in residential streets.”
Moir Street resident Bob Roberts said the road had become a car park for those attending nearby nightspots, but stricter time limits had helped free bays.
“You would come back at night to park your car and it would be completely full,” he said.
Ranger Jean Lowther said they had been tackling the problem for a long time.
“You can see it move as restrictions go in. It just moves further afield,” she said.
Mayor Alannah MacTiernan confirmed the problem was spreading as Perth parking tightened.
“We need to have a concentrated effort to protect the areas from commuter and staff parking,” she said.
“There is more pressure on our streets just from people that are living here because we have more intensification.
“It means we have to get a lot stricter,” the mayor said.