Parking monitored differently

Parking enforcement officer Darcy Hendershot tests a new handheld device to check for parking violations in downtown Greencastle.

Blue chalk on tires will soon be a bygone thing when a new method to monitor parking goes into effect Wednesday, Jan. 17 in downtown Greencastle.

The city police's parking director will be using a handheld computer to monitor the two-hour parking regulations, eliminating the marking of tires with chalk.

Parking enforcement officer Darcy Hendershot wants the parking public to know that the license plate of every vehicle parked in the two-hour parking area will be entered into the handheld device along with the numbered space where the vehicle is parked.

Two hours later, every license plate will again be entered into the device along with the numbered parking space. If the vehicle has remained in the same parking space, a parking citation will be issued for overtime parking.

Hendershot warns that motorists cannot drive around the block and pull back into the same parking space, as could occur under the previous chalk-marking system.

Also, drivers cannot simply roll their vehicle forward or backward in the same space, which often removed or repositioned the chalk mark to show that the vehicle had been moved.

And, the handheld device can be used in the rain and snow, and the tickets are waterproof. In the past, parking was not monitored as closely during wet weather, but that will no longer be the case.

Anyone with questions about the new program can call the Greencastle Police Department at 653-2925.