Have you parked recently in Atlanta and gotten a ticket? You’ve got a friend in the Georgia Senate.

The chamber voted overwhelmingly Friday to give voters statewide a chance to vote on banning cities from contracting with third-party vendors for parking enforcement.

But while Senate Resolution 809 itself would be a decision for all Georgia voters, the legislation's sponsor, state Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, has made no secret it's aimed at Park Atlanta — the private company that manages enforcement of the city's street parking rules.

The vendor’s contract is up for renewal later this year, and frustrated parkers have been vocal about what they say are unfair tactics that include writing tickets before time has expired.

Passed on a bipartisan 42-4 vote, the resolution — which proposes to write the ban into the state constitution — must now win a two-thirds majority in the state House before it could be placed on the ballot in November.

About the Author

Keep Reading

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Michael Thurmond spoke to the AJC's Tia Mitchell during a  Politically Georgia forum at The Dogwood at Westside Paper in Atlanta on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Adam Beam/AJC)

Credit: Adam Beam/AJC

Featured

A migrant farmworker harvests Vidalia onions at a farm in Collins, in 2011. A coalition of farmworkers, including one based in Georgia, filed suit last month in federal court arguing that cuts to H-2A wages will trigger a cut in the pay and standard of living of U.S. agricultural workers. (Bita Honarvar/AJC)

Credit: Bita Honarvar