Angle back-in parking Downtown is confusing drivers

ABC-7 viewers are not happy with certain parking spots Downtown where only back-in angle parking is allowed.

The area is along Ochoa between Magoffin and San Antonio, next to Sen. Jose Rodriguez’s office.

It’s one of only two areas in the City where only angle/back-in parking is permitted, but it was clear after going there, very few drivers understand it.

“When I came back i noticed my vehicle had been cited,” insensed former El Paso police officer Rafael Vega, Jr., told ABC-7 after getting a $55 ticket for not backing in to one of those angle parking spots on Ochoa. “Of course I got upset because $55 is $55. But I think it’s a trap. There were four vehicles here, so in a matter of about two minutes, the city made about $220.”

On Thursday morning ABC-7 spotted three cars backed in correctly. But one, a green Jeep, did not … and got a ticket!

“I’m really upset about this,” the driver of that Jeep, Estivhaliz Perez, told ABC-7. “It’s just an injustice. I didn’t even notice the sign or anything. Even if I had noticed the sign, angle parking, I understand the parking is at an angle, but what does that even mean?”

ABC-7 asked City Transportation Director Ted Marquez to explain.

“There’s multiple benefits if you do it right,” Marquez said.

He pointed out that Ochoa is a two-way street, so drivers need to approach to the South.

“It resembles a little bit parallel parking,” Marquez explained. “Typically, in parallel parking, you stop and back into the parking space and you do two or three maneuver. On back-in angle parking, you only do one maneuver, straight back in.”

Another ABC-7 spotted parked correctly, but had no idea.

“Coming in from the other direction, I probably would have parked the other way, the complete opposite way,” Adrian Pena said after parking the correct way and being told he would have received a $55 ticket had he not backed in. “I did not know that.”

Marquez said backing in allows a safer exit forward, instead of backing out. It also allows access to the trunk at the sidewalk, instead of the street.

“You’ll be safer for it and you’ll be better off,” Marquez said.

And you’ll avoid a $55 ticket!

Marquez said angle/back-in parking areas are only designated on streets where it’s appropriate. The only other street in the city where it exists is also Downtown, at Oregon and Franklin.