The Advocate leads with a story about the new parking policy in Stamford. Street meters are now being enforced till 10 pm, where previously they stopped at 6 PM. Needless to point out, residents and restaurants are unhappy about the situation. From the Advocate:
Signs are posted on the meters with the new hours, but Director of Operations Ben Barnes said the city will issue warnings instead of tickets for the first few weeks.
“We are going to go easy on enforcement for a period of time so folks have an opportunity to adjust,” Barnes said.
Motorists who park in the Bedford Street surface lot already have to pay until 10 p.m. Those who park in the Bell Street and Summer Street garages have to feed the meters until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
The new enforcement hours are expected to bring in another $250,000 a year for the city.
“We have significant challenges with our budget this year and we need to look for revenue sources,” Barnes said.
Faced with massive budget cuts in the Office of Operations, Barnes is leaving many vacant positions unfilled and closing the Scofieldtown Road Recycling Center on weekdays to reduce spending.
His department would end the fiscal year with a deficit of $300,000 to $400,000 if he takes no action, Barnes said.
He hopes the extended enforcement hours will encourage restaurant employees to park in the city-owned garages, Barnes said. Offering free parking on the street at night is “undercutting the garages during a time of relatively heavy use,” he said.
Since the rate is higher on the street - $1 an hour compared with a flat $3 night rate in the garages - he hopes the extended meter hours will drive more business to the parking structures, Barnes said.
Nighttime enforcement should increase the turnover of spaces, which Barnes hopes merchants will like.
But so far, restaurant owners are giving the plan a bad review.
Jean-Noel Maubert, who owns Zinc Bistro and Bar at 222 Summer St., said it’s a bad time to rev up meter enforcement. Restaurant owners downtown are struggling to compete with the new chain restaurants at the Stamford Town Center mall, Maubert said.
“I think everyone is feeling the effect of five big restaurants opening in one shot, and the parking - that’s not going to help,” he said.
The Bridgeport message boards are also full of complaints about the new meters springing up in downtown Bridgeport. SoNo experienced it’s parking woes starting in 2005. With municipal budgets being stretched, and municipal revenues shrinking, the arrival of increased usage fees is no surprise. But bean counters sometimes overlook the intangible economic impacts of policy decisions. Increasing parking costs to consumers in a state where suburban towns still house more residents than the cities they surround means less incentive to come into the urban cores.
Norwalk faces the delicate balance between stimulating economic activity in the Wall Street area, and funding infrastructure maintenance required for the municipal lots. The arrival of meters on Wall Street will happen, how they are implemented and how area merchants are included in the roll out will determine how smooth the transition will go.
source: Advocate, Nighttime warnings will be followed by enforcement, By Donna Porstner, January 21 2008
