Gulf Shores, Alabama, will vote next week on using license-plate readers to verify residents’ access to designated parking, replacing windshield decals. If approved, residents would upload driver’s-license and vehicle-registration details; exemptions would last two years.
Gulf Shores residents currently park free at its beaches. Visitors pay $2 an hour north of Beach Boulevard and $3 south; from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., the rate is $4 an hour. Rates are not enforced from Dec. 1 through Feb. 28 or 29. Critics say license-plate readers could enable surveillance that crosses into harassment. The police chief said last month his department would set up a transparency portal showing how the city’s similar Flock cameras are used.
Galveston voters approved paid parking in 2011; it began downtown and on Seawall Boulevard in 2013. The city switched from dashboard tickets to mail-based enforcement in 2024; ticket totals later surged, according to a Houston ABC13 investigation. PayByPhone offers a $45 annual seawall pass, and four free parking areas sit north of the boulevard. Separately, the Park Board uses ParkMobile at Stewart and East beaches, with parking priced at $15 a day or $50 for an annual pass. In June, City Manager Brian Maxwell said the city would seek bids for a new system, but progress remained limited.
