After this month‘s parking-meter rampage, is on-street parking still allowed?

City officials are taking steps to address confusion over whether on-street parking is still allowed downtown, given the ongoing Queen Street reconstruction and a recent vandalism rampage that destroyed 74 parking meters.

"People can still park downtown," Nicole Maione, the city's manager of parking and transit, told SooToday on Friday.

"Of course, there's all of the parking lots," Maione said.

"And where there is on-street parking available that is interrupted by construction, people can definitely park downtown."

Maione told us that all of the damaged parking meters (one vandalization is shown in the video above) have been removed.

"They were damaged beyond repair. We had to remove them for quite a few reasons, and we also didn't want to leave any debris in the downtown area.

Each meter contains about $5 in cash. Damage was estimated at $40,000.

Maione said the city is working on signage that will clarify the Queen Street parking situation, advising people to pay using the Passport app.

Maione said details of the city's parking response are still being being developed, but Nicholas Luck, executive director of the Downtown Association, told his board this week that it's unlikely the damaged meters will be replaced.

"So we are working on getting signage put up in those areas," Maione said. "It just takes a little bit to put it together.

"We haven't confirmed exactly what we're going to be doing, but we are definitely going to be doing more education and more signage for the Passport app, because it is the best and easiest way to use for downtown parking.

"In the blocks where there's active construction, we won't be enforcing parking in those blocks.... We're not ticketing in the blocks of active construction, just because it is a little bit tough downtown right now, but anywhere else people can absolutely park downtown."

The Downtown Association asked its member businesses this week to be courteous when themselves using on-street parking on Queen Street.

"As on-street parking is limited, it is recommended out of courtesy for all members, that your tenants and staff do not park on Queen Street during business hours to ensure there is access to on-street parking for downtown patrons and customers," the organization said.

"We are currently working with the City of Sault Ste. Marie to install signage to indicate the new changes to parking on Queen Street since the removal of the physical meters.

"Your cooperation is appreciated during this transition period," the group told its members.