Rolly: Parking ticket at soccer game? Blame Legislature

I wrote Wednesday about numerous parking tickets issued to Real Salt Lake fans who parked on neighborhood streets near Rio Tinto Stadium because they were in an "event no parking zone," even though there were no signs nearby to let them know that.

Chalk up another thing to blame on the Utah Legislature.

Sandy police defended the tickets, saying there were signs at select intersections leading into the neighborhoods. Still, ticket recipients told me the signs were at least three streets from where they parked. Police say the patrons cause a nuisance in the neighborhoods, therefore the prohibitions.

There used to be problems along Guardsman Way near Rice-Eccles Stadium during University of Utah football games. Fans received tickets because it wasn't clear whether or not they could park there. But Salt Lake City has solved that problem with proper markings.

Salt Lake City, you might recall, tried to bid on having the Real Salt Lake stadium in Utah's capital city. But there was little encouragement from legislative leaders, who seemed bent on punishing Salt Lake City for electing liberal Mayor Rocky Anderson. Then, when Sandy got into the game, House Speaker Greg Curtis, a Republican from Sandy, worked out a deal to give the soccer club a $30 million subsidy from hotel and motel taxes if the team built in Sandy, which has a good Republican mayor.

Salt Lake City also does a good job directing traffic around EnergySolutions Arena before and after Utah Jazz games.

I wrote in 2009 about the Real Salt Lake fans being on their own trying to cross State Street after the games because of lax traffic control by the cops who, apparently, are too busy finding ways to give people parking tickets.

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Sticking it to Ute fans? • One frequent traveler to the scenic Alpine Loop in Utah County has noticed that only one of the fee stations along the U.S. Forest Service-controlled route has a person at the booth collecting the $12-for-a-week fees to go through the loop. That would be the booth in American Fork Canyon, most traveled by drivers from Salt Lake County.

The collection station above Sundance, the most accessible stop for Provo travelers, seems never to have a person there.

Could there be discrimination against the more liberal folks to the north?

Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Jo Pollock says even if a booth doesn't have a person taking the fees, there are boxes where drivers can pay their fees automatically and get a receipt. She says the loop is patrolled by Forest Service, state and county law enforcement, and those without a receipt will get a ticket.

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Chauvinistic Republicans? • During the redistricting debates, an email from the conservative 9-12 group to fellow members called for action to put pressure on House Speaker Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, because the group believed she was giving in too much to Democrats when finishing the final congressional district boundaries.

The 9-12ers were scared to death that the Legislature would create a Democrat stronghold in Salt Lake County, which Sutherland Institute leader Paul Mero has already warned is a socialist enclave.

To prevent this "Urban Archipelago," as the email put it, patriots were urged to contact Speaker Lockhart and tell her not to do it.

The email said the best email address for Lockhart is stanlockhartutah@gmail.com.

That's actually the email address for her husband, Stan Lockhart. The speaker's official address is blockhart@utah.gov.

Perhaps the 9-12ers believe it's most effective to have hubby get the little woman in line.

prolly@sltrib.com