The Richmond Police Department announced yesterday that beginning immediately the state and local laws prohibiting parking on sidewalks will be enforced in Richmond. California Vehicle Code sections 22500 (e) and (f) prohibit parking that blocks a portion or all of the sidewalk and may be subject to citation. Parking cars on the sidewalk isn't only against the law, it can be dangerous for children, the elderly, people with disabilities and people pushing strollers with infants.

Sidewalks are also an important part of a healthy city. If Richmond is going to be healthy, safe and prosperous, it has to be walkable. Studies provide increasingly compelling evidence of the positive effects of walkable neighborhoods on everything from housing values to crime and health, to creativity and more democratic cities (Florida, Walkability is Good for You).

Walkability goes far beyond sidewalks, but that’s where it all begins. Using a sidewalk needs to be a safe and pleasant experience to attract walkers. A sidewalk, at a minimum, has to free of safety hazards like uplifted cracks, and has to be wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs and strollers. If people park vehicles blocking sidewalks, as is too frequently the case in Richmond, they become useless no matter how well designed and maintained they are.

Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Richmond Pedestrian Plan, courtesy notices (shown below) will be placed on vehicles blocking sidewalks until December 14, 2017,at which time citations will be issued.

Please share this information with your friends and neighbors to help them avoid getting a parking citation for this violation: