CONFUSING DOWNTOWN PARKING PUZZLE: CAN I OR CAN'T I PARK?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Take a gander at what looks like a rather innocuous photo of a street corner above. 

With construction snarling up traffic in the downtown area and streets blocked off without any notice, a parking space is at premium. When you come across an empty one – like this one at the corner of Elizabeth and ninth streets on the east side of the Cameron County building fenced parking lot – the tendency is to jump on it before the next desperate parking-space hunter beats you to it.

But then you stop and think: If I park here, will I be in violation of the red curb paint prohibiting the parking of cars in a space reserved for emergency vehicles? Or does the parking space outlined with the white paint on the street trump the emergency space?

That puzzled one of our readers who sent us this photo. What guides here?, they asked. Does the red prohibition of the painted curb, or the parking space white paint lines on the street?

That puzzled us, too, and after futilely calling the Brownsville Help line (546-HELP) and placed on hold while a recording tried to convince us for close to a half hour that our call was important, we reached out to District 4 commissioner Pedro Cardenas, with our question: What trumps here, the red curb paint or the parking lines? 

"I was confused, too," he responded through text on his cell phone. "Let me see if we can fix that."

That was Thursday morning and we expected the usual foot dragging by the city.

But then lo and behold! The following day (Friday) that we passed through the same spot, city crews had moved to clarify the issue by painting over the red line with gray where it came level with the white parking line on the street.

"We've got a couple of corners like that and the city crews are looking for them to correct the confusion," Cardenas texted. "Thanks for pointing that out to us. Please be patient and we'll get it fixed."

So there you have it. If everything goes as Cardenas says, the confusion over where you can or can't park will be cleared. Happy motoring!