ORLANDO, Fla. – Madison Nanney was only running a quick errand downtown, so she parked her car along N. Orange Avenue, directly across from Wall Street Plaza.
When she returned a few minutes later, she discovered a bright green parking ticket envelope tucked underneath her windshield.
“Oh (expletive),” said Nanney as she read over the $30 parking citation.“I don’t need this right now.”
Despite numerous signs warning drivers they cannot stop their cars along the curb, the 100 block of North Orange Avenue is one of the most frequent places in Orlando where motorists receive parking tickets, a News 6 investigation has found.
[Scroll below to view City of Orlando parking fines]
Over a one-year period, parking enforcement officers issued nearly 700 citations on that block alone to drivers who either did not notice or intentionally ignored the "no parking"signs.
“I thought it was OK to park here.
But there’s a sign right there,” said Nanney as she pointed to a red and white "no parking"sign feet from her car.
“So I guess I was wrong.”
News 6 analyzed data from thousands of parking citations issued by the City of Orlando to identify the areas in town where drivers are most likely to receive tickets if they break the rules.
The yellow curbs in front of Florida A&M University College of Law on Beggs Avenue are tempting places to park.
But records show those curbs are also the site of the most fire lane parking violations in the city.
Nearly 50 people have received $30 citations there in the past year.
Orlando parking enforcement officers issued nearly 250 citations in the past year for blocking fire hydrants, a violation that carries a $30 fine.
One particular hydrant on East Pine Street, located just steps from the Corona Cigar Company at The Plaza, was the subject of about 100 of those tickets, records show.
When motorists improperly use parking spots designated for the disabled, it can make it difficult for people entitled to disabled parking permits to get around.
[INTERACTIVE: Most likely place you can get a parking ticket in the city of Orlando]
It can also lead to a $250 citation.
Of the nearly 750 tickets issued by the City of Orlando for disabled parking violations, about 225 occurred at various locations around Orlando International Airport.
Of the 83,000 parking citations issued by the City of Orlando in the past year, more than one-third were a result of drivers failing to pay a parking meter or allowing the time on their meter to expire.
Some of the most frequent meter violations occur just south of the Orange County Courthouse, on the 300 blocks of N. Orange Avenue and N. Magnolia Avenue.
In the past year, nearly 3,000 citations have been placed on vehicles parked at expired meters in those locations.
People attending events at Amway Center or visiting downtown restaurants or businesses can often find parking spots at the city-owned Garland Lot, located at the intersection of Garland Avenue and Central Avenue, across from I-4.
But not everyone inserts their credit card or cash at the lot’s pay station, resulting in about 3,200 citations for meter violations.
But the area where the most parking citations are issued in Central Florida also happens to be near one Orlando’s most iconic locations.
On the south side of Lake Eola Park, along a five -block stretch of E. Central Avenue lined by shops, restaurants, condos and apartments, parking enforcement officers consistently find expired meters.
In the past year, they wrote more than 3,600 tickets.
“It’s important that these spaces be used for their appropriate time to allow all users to visit our Downtown, enjoy the parks and amenities and patronize the businesses in the area,” said City of Orlando spokeswoman Cassandra Lafser.
Yet despite the high number of citations issued in particular areas of town, the overall number of parking tickets has dropped in recent years, particularly for meter violations.
The city issued about 41,100 citations for meter violations in 2014.
The following year, the number dropped to 31,500, a decrease of more than 23 percent.
One reason for the decline may be due to "smart meters," which the city began installing in December 2014.
Instead of accepting just coins, the new parking meters also take credit card and online payments.
“With the Park Mobile App, patrons receive a reminder when their parking meter is about to expire and can easily add time to it directly from the App, without having to run out to their vehicles to ‘feed the meter,'” said Lafser.
Outside the city limits, in unincorporated Orange County, the sheriff’s office is responsible for issuing parking citations.
Some of the most frequent locations for tickets in the county include the Orange County Convention Center (an average of 9 per month), Disney’s Magic Kingdom employee parking lot (16 per month), Premium Outlet Mall (18 per month), and Florida Mall (20 per month).
Yet the top location for parking tickets in unincorporated Orange County has no shops, restaurants, or tourist attractions.
Tanner Crossings is a 250-home community that sits just east of the Econlockhatchee River near the University of Central Florida.
The neighborhood has a single entrance with less than 2 miles of roads inside.
Over a five-year period, the Orange County sheriff issued nearly 2,400 parking citations inside Tanner Crossings, an average of more than one per day.
“I'm not surprised,” said Kim Aglio when told of the high number of parking tickets written in her neighborhood.
“We have a lot of cars.”
Many homes within Tanner Crossings are rented by groups of UCF students, according to residents, and their vehicles occasionally clog the community’s narrow roads.
“It’s hard to get through, especially if there is ever an emergency,” said Aglio.
“I don’t know how the emergency vehicles would be able to come down our roads.”
In an attempt to make the streets more navigable, the Tanner Crossings Homeowners Association installed "no parking" signs throughout the community.
Off-duty deputies hired by the HOA aggressively enforce the parking rules, residents tell News 6.
“I think they should give more (parking tickets),” said Lauro Adame.
“When the students have parties, the streets will be packed.”