Finding a parking spot on Main St. in Middletown most nights is nearly impossible. It wasn’t too long ago that Main St. was noted for its empty storefronts and buildings. But then came the new police department, new restaurants, leading to new retail stores, free WIFI and now a parking problem. With a healthy mix of retail, restaurant and affordable housing, Middletown has fostered a vibrant downtown that offers a diverse range of dining, from Vietnamese to Italian and eclectic stores next to chains. This variety makes downtown Middletown just as active a destination as the strip malls further up route 66.
The Courant today covers the battle the town faces in keeping the metered parking spots open for customers.
When the weather is fine, Beliveau enjoys arriving at work an hour early and buying a coffee from either Order on Court or Brewbakers - both cafes whose owners have clean parking records. Then he’ll take a position on Main Street and watch people coming to work. It’s not an idle pastime: Beliveau memorizes which cars are owned by people employed on Main Street because, if forced to choose, he’ll ticket them over shoppers and restaurant diners.
The goal of Middletown’s parking enforcement program is not to make money for the city. It is designed to turn over spaces on Main Street so that stores and restaurants have a steady stream of customers, and to discourage people from parking there for the entire workday.
During the parking amnesty for the Christmas shopping season, Beliveau conducted an informal survey of who was parking on Main Street during business hours. In the 97 spaces between Washington Street and Dingwall Drive, he counted each day between 10 and 17 cars that he recognized as belonging to people who work on Main Street, he says.
“That’s 12 percent to 13 percent of 97 spaces,” he says. “When you consider that each space turns over each hour, that’s 100 cars that were not able to park here.”
Middletown isn’t planning sit idle on the parking issues. A recently acquired $18 million federal grant for parking has prompted the city to hire a parking consultant to propose how best to spend the money.
