Everyone’s going to use Uber they said.  People will be using public transportation they said.  More people will bike to work (in the South Florida sun and under torrential downpours).   More people will use scooters they said. Autonomous vehicles will takeover they said.  And more and more will use public transportation they said.  At least that was part of the many theories used to justify less parking at the new downtown apartments known as the Miami Springs Town Center Complex.

However, we don’t have to speculate about apartment parking problems.  All we have to do is look east.

No.  Not downtown Miami.

I’m talking about the east end of Miami Springs.  You see there are apartments on the east end that apparently don’t have enough on premise parking.  And the folks who live there are resorting to parking illegally in areas clearly marked with “No Stopping or Standing” signs.

This is what happens when an apartment either doesn’t have enough parking or is overpopulated with too many folks cramming into the apartments.  Or it could be a combination of both.

Now, to be clear, we’re only seeing this issue happening at one specific apartment complex located at 709 South Royal Poinciana Boulevard.  When you drive down South Royal Poinciana Boulevard, you’ll notice the other apartments don’t seem to have this problem.

To be fair, sometimes a construction or water works project could lead to a temporary displacement for repaving, working on underground pipes, or temporary space for construction equipment.

So we reached out to Miami Springs City Manager William Alonso yesterday to see if he was aware of any construction that could lead to a temporary displacement of parking.  We have yet to hear any response from the City of Miami Springs, but when we do, we’ll update the story.

Nevertheless, we were surprised to see so many vehicles parked in the clearly marked “Tow Away” Zone.  Moreover, I think we can all agree this looks a lot less like the Miami Springs I grew up in and more like the typical overly packed Hialeah apartments.

Well, since Mr. Alonso hadn’t replied to our inquiry yesterday, we decided to drive by and take a peek to see if there was any obvious construction or repaving or other issue that would cause so many vehicles to park off premise.

 

After driving through the parking lot, it was clear that there was no construction or repaving going on.  However, it was immediately clear that there was a shortage of on premise parking.  As you can see below, cars are parked back to back (2) per stall in some areas.

And every nook and cranny is being used for parking at this complex.  You could say 30 – 40% of the cars at this complex were not parked in a designated parking spot.

My question is, what’s changed?  This apartment complex has been there for years?  And in all the years of driving down South Royal Poinciana Boulevard, I don’t remember seeing so many vehicles parked along the swale marked “No Stopping or Standing Tow Away Zone.”

Were these renters parking across the street at one of the local businesses?  I know some residents at the east of Miami Springs have complained about renters parking in their swale.  And I’ve always wondered why there always cars parked on the southwest side of the Office Depot parking lot…even when they’re closed.

Driving across the street, we found evidence of more night time parking in areas marked “No Parking Tow Away Zone.”

So this brings up several questions:

  1. Where are all these cars coming from?
  2. Is it just this one apartment complex?
  3. How many people are they cramming into these apartments?
  4. Are people leaving cars in Miami Springs to get FREE PARKING when heading to the airport?
  5. Who’s enforcing the No Parking?  
  6. Is this just a preview of what we’re going to see on Canal Street?

Do you live in the area?   If you have insight as to what’s going on, please feel free to share your input by email info@MiamiSprings.com or call us at 305.775.4094.  You can stay anonymous if you wish.

Let us know what you think.  Share your comments below or via social media.

3 COMMENTS

  1. When people park their vehicles right in front of an official “No Parking” sign and nothing happens, they begin to lose respect to the authorities and wonder what else they can get away with, setting in motion the “Broken Window Theory. These thoughts are further encouraged when police vehicle after police vehicle drive by, and no action is taken against the law breakers.
    Yes, I know that for the most part these are hardworking people, and that the parking citation is going to hurt them, but they need to learn to respect the laws and adjust their behavior like everyone else.
    Or. . . . . .just remove the signs and promote a skid-row effect and declining property values in the area; we all want that, right?

  2. People can’t afford the rent so they’re sharing apartments with other families. Instead of one or two cars per apartment you’re seeing 4 or 5 cars. MS Police need to start towing the cars and doing their jobs.

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