Allan Appel Photo
It’s official: Downtown visitors will need to feed meters like this one for an extra five hours, thanks to a vote that went down to the wire at the city’s traffic commission.
The commission gave final approval to the plan to extend metered parking on certain downtown streets until midnight by a 3 to 2 vote with one abstention.
Chairman Rick Epstein cast a rare tie-breaking vote in favor the plan.
“It’s a horrible move,” declared commissioner Cathy Graves, citing concerns for downtown merchants. Some bars and restaurants have complained that employees will not be able to afford to pay for parking or that the extended hours will drive customers away.
Commissioner Bishop Theodore Brooks, on the other hand, argued the new hours would entice more people to visit downtown.
Meters on downtown streets currently charge for parking only up until 7 p.m., Monday to Saturday. The new plan, which was part of the city budget alderman approved in May, will extend those hours until midnight six days a week.
The new hours won’t take effect before October and not before a 30-day informational campaign, city transportation czar Jim Travers assured the room. The new hours will take effect only at 900 new meters that accept credit cards. And paying will be easier: After 5 p.m., the 1- or 2‑hour parking limit will be lifted and customers will be able to pay as many hours in advance as they like. The cost will remain at $1.50 per hour.
The new meters will look like the ones that have debuted on Broadway and Chapel Street, except shorter. (See photo at top of the story.)
Travers said workers will start as soon as next week cutting down existing meters to 36 inches to install the new meter heads on top.
Approval came after some spirited discussion about the price of the plan, both for the city and for businesses.
In opening remarks before the commission on the third floor of police headquarters, Travers said the main impetus behind the plan is money: The new city budget that took effect July 1 charges his department with coming up with $1.5 million in extra meter revenue, boosting the year’s total to $5.7 million. He said there are two ways to do that — extend hours or raise the meter rates again. He called the latter option unpalatable since the city already raised rates by a quarter last year.
Melissa Bailey Photo
Travers.
The meters in question represent just a fraction of the total available parking downtown, said Travers (pictured): 40 percent of spots lie in parking authority lots, 47 percent are privately managed and 13 percent are metered on-street spots. Travers’ proposal covers only 900 metered spots, which comprise one third of that 13 percent, he said.
The parking spots in question lie on downtown streets bounded by Park, Elm, Orange and George streets; on Broadway; on York Street from Elm to Grove; and on Union Avenue.
By 7 p.m. on a given night, 600 of those spots are currently taken up by employees working at downtown bars and restaurants, Travers said. Extending metered parking beyond that time will serve to free up those spots for paying customers, he argued.
What about the workers? one commissioner asked.
Travers conceded that has been the main concern he’s heard from businesses. He said there will still be free parking available — just a bit further away. When the city launches its informational campaign in September, he said, it will put together a packet for downtown workers highlighting free parking spots at night, including at Yale University lots that are open to the public.
He hit more resistance when he brought up how to enforce the plan.
Travers announced the city will hire three extra parking enforcement officers (formerly known as meter maids) on a part-time basis to hand out tickets from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week, for a yearly cost of about $67,000. That’s on top of the three part-time workers who check meters until 7 p.m., he said.
Cops Tapped To Check Meters
After 9 p.m., Travers revealed, police would do the job.
From left: Graves, Epstein, Brooks.
“Whoa, whoa!” replied Epstein, who also chairs the police commission (which doubles as the traffic commission on nights like these).
“We’re not going to take [police] off the streets to give tickets!” Graves protested.
Chairman Epstein agreed: “I’m concerned about taking our police officers and making them enforce parking.”
Police Chief Frank Limon jumped in to settle the question. He first said that cops already dispatched on a downtown beat would check the meters. Then he clarified that the department would hire extra-duty cops “specifically for writing citations” for parking enforcement. The department will have three extra cops out per night to check meters and write tickets downtown, he said.
Limon’s reply addressed one concern — that police coverage would be depleted for parking tickets. It raised another. Why pay police extra-duty time when you could get a civilian for a fraction of the cost?
“I’d have a big concern” putting civilian meter-enforcers on the streets past 10 p.m., Travers replied.
“Let’s face it — they’re the most hated employee in the city,” he said. “We’re going to put them in a bar crowd where people are drinking?”
What about putting cops in that position? a commissioner asked.
“Officers have a gun,” Travers replied.
Graves said she’d like to see more figures on the total cost savings of the plan.
The city already approved bonding out half a million dollars through the capital projects budget to buy the first batch of meters, which Travers said cost $500 a pop. Existing city staffers will install them. The only other cost from his budget would be the $67,000 for part-time parking enforcement officers. The rest of the bill, for cops on the late-night parking meter shift, would be paid for by the police department.
Graves asked if the plan had been discussed with downtown merchants.
Travers said he met with the Chamber of Commerce, some merchants arranged by the Town Green Special Services District, and the city’s downtown nightlife committee. He said while some merchants had concerns, others wanted the meters extended even more — to 2 a.m., which he said the city wouldn’t have the ability to enforce.
Graves.
Graves (pictured) remained unconvinced: “I don’t know about the merchants,” she said.
“I think it’s too hard of a hit for the merchants,” agreed commissioner Evelise Ribeiro.
Travers then tried a personal appeal: He said before he joined the city three years ago, he had a different line of work. “I’m a business person,” he said. When the city stopped letting people park free on Saturdays last year, he said, he was careful to roll out the change in a way that respects business. The city used “warning tickets” at first to get the word out before slapping parkers with fines.
Travers said once the 600 employees who park on the street find somewhere else to park, it will free up spots for paying customers. Just the mere fact that there are meters there will boost turnover at the meters, too, he argued.
Bishop Brooks agreed: He said he doesn’t go downtown now because he doesn’t want to pay to park in a downtown lot. The plan would “induce” more people to come downtown, he reasoned, if they can just pay at a meter for the amount of time they want to stay instead of shelling out $7 to $8 at a private lot.
When it came time to vote, Brooks and commissioner Sandra Trevino both said “yea.”
Graves and commissioner Richard Buckholz, who also cited business’ concerns, both voted “nay.” Ribiero abstained, prompting Epstein to cast the tie vote — something he hasn’t done in a long time, he said, before adding his “yea.”
Graves turned to Ribiero: “You should have voted!” she said.
“I’m not completely sold either way,” Ribiero explained.
“I think it’s a horrible move,” grumbled Graves. “I think there should be more out-of-the-box thinking on how to raise this revenue.”
After the vote, Travers said the city will install the new meters through September, then launch an in informational campaign with a 30-day heads up when the new rules will take effect.
He said the 48 pilot meters that debuted in January on Chapel and Broadway showed an 35 percent increase in revenue just because it’s easier to pay for parking. Over a third of people are using credit cards in those meters, he said.
He said the new meters will bring the city up to date with modern times, when people are paying with plastic instead of cash.
The goal of the new meters is not to issue tickets, he stressed, “it’s to get people to pay for parking.”
Good that there is a clergyman voting on the fate of places that serve alcohol. Im sure the three churches on the green, as usual, will be somehow immune to all parking laws.
Well, now downtown will be limited to drunken, vomiting 20 year olds from the valley, gun toting gang bangers and panhandlers.
Now we can all feel better about letting new haven slip quietly beneath the the water's surface for the third time.
Can you give me directions to the shoreline please?