Parking is so tight in South Baltimore's Otterbein neighborhood that residents had a gentleman's agreement with the parking police -- they'd be allowed to double-park without getting a ticket until a neighbor left a spot.

Sometime in the past several months, those unwritten rules disappeared. And now, the community's representative on parking matters, architect Robert R. Gisriel, says applications for visitor's permits has skyrocketed.

So board members took particular notice when they saw and ad posted on Craigslist from a guy offering to sell two visitor permits and letting the buyer make an offer: "You can park anywhere between 395-Conway-Light-Henrietta area. Pass is good for 1 year, expires 1-31-10. 2 block walk to TONS office buildings, 1 block to the harbor. Most parking places downtown are $100 plus a month, so this is worth ovr $1200. Email me your offer."

The Otterbein resident quickly got on the phone to another Otterbein resident, City Councilman William H. Cole IV, who quickly got on the phone to the cops in the Southern District. Two detectives contacted the man, arranged a deal outside the ESPN Zone at the Inner Harbor and made a bust. Nicholas Foster, 26, who lives on West Lee Street in Otterbein, was charged with one count of counterfeiting a city permit.

I wasn't able to reach Foster, but details of the charges he faces are below.

Parking rules vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, and Otterbein has among the city's most restrictive. Unlike neighboring Federal Hill and South Baltimore, where visitors can park up to two hours in residential neighborhhoods, drivers to Otterbein can't park there at all without a permit. Part of the reason is that the community is all residential; and it's prime location near the stadiums, the convention center, the Inner Harbor and Federal Hill makes it a magnet for people seeking free parking near the city's main attractions.

The commuity already has more housing units -- condos, appartments and town houses -- than parking spaces, and already limits residents on how many permits they can obtain. For example, a house with no off-street parking can get two parking permits, each costing $20; a house with two cars and one parking pad can only get one permit. Residents also are allowed two visitor permits -- also each costing $20 -- the kind that the suspect allegedly forged.

If everyone who is eligible actually applied for a parking permit and two visitor passes, "It would just blow us out of the water," Gisriel told me, noting that just recently he saw a car from Carroll County pull up and the occupants walk toward the Inner Harbor. He informed them they risked a ticket, and they told him they'd preper to pay than a parking garage. "They just didn't care."

Another problem is between homeowners and renters. Many of the renters are university students or young professionals, who Gisriel said "still have their cars registered to mommy and daddy" meaning they aren't eligible for a residential parking permit. But they are eligible for a visitor permit, which they place on their cars to permanently leave on the street.

It's illegal to not only forge a parking permit, but also to sell a real one, says Cole, who stated the obvious when asked about the problem: "Everybody is looking for a cheaper place to park downtown." He said believe the problem of forging the permits is more widespread than officials want people to believe.

Peter Little the executive director of the Parking Authority, said his agency takes forgery "very seriously" and said he's heard of people offering up to $500 for a parking permit.

The charging documents are below: