12 Hour Meter Update

The 12-hour meters have been placed.  

As planned, there are a total of twelve new 12-hour meters as followed:

Market Square Parking Ramp (6^th floor, nearest the elevator tower) = 6

Academy Theatre Parking Lot (last two spaces on either side, nearest Cherry Alley) = 2

Robert Smith Memorial Lot (off of Park Avenue) = 4

These are in addition to the 4 meters that were already placed on South Main Street near its intersection with Arch Street.

Regards,

Andy

12 Hour Meter Update

I was informed this morning that the 12-hour meters have arrived.

Here is the location plan:

Market Square Ramp (top deck): 6 (replaces 4 that were removed several weeks ago). [Note: Still need to discuss placing some (or all?) under cover so they can be used in winter months when the top deck is sometimes closed.]

Academy Theatre Lot (last two spaces closest to the Alley): 2

Robert Smith Memorial Lot: 4

I’ll send another follow up email when I know that the meters have been placed.  Hopefully later this week.

Andy

Andy Walker

Assistant City Manager/City Clerk

12 Hour Meters On The 6th Level Of The Market Square Ramp

This morning I went up to the 6th level of the parking structure, where I occasionally park when I know my husband is going to be working longer than 5 hours. He and I share a rented space and I usually put quarters into a 5 hour meter on the 4th level.

Because of our vacation, he has had to work much longer and I have been using the 12 hour meters on the 6th level. At the meeting I discussed the fact that the Meter Men were putting letters in my car wiper blades telling me to rent a space and move my car out of the metered areas to allow parking for customers to park.

There are several part time employees that use these 12 hour meters.

After calling the city and asking why they had removed the 12 hour meters and replaced them with 3 hour meters, I received this response.

~~~
Good afternoon, Viki.

I followed up with Joe Chriest (copied here) and Charlie Cervone from our Public Works Department to review the recent meter changes.  Four of the five 12-hour meters that were on the top deck of the Market Square Ramp were moved to South Main Street (near its intersection with Arch Street) to create longer term parking options there, the need for which was identified by the parking survey.  One 12-hour meter remains on the top deck at this time.  At the time these meters were moved, nine new 5-hour meters were installed on the top deck of the Market Square ramp to accommodate longer term parking needs.  Charlie Cervone reports that twelve new 12-hour meters have been ordered and are expected to arrive within the next two weeks.  When these arrive, several of them will be re- installed on the top deck of the Market Square garage. Recognizing that several part-timers rely on the longer-than-5-hour meters, we will ask our parking enforcement officers not to enforce meter feeders on the top deck until the new 12-hour meters are installed.

Regards,
Andy

On a side note, I did receive an inquiry from Beth Huchert (sp?) at Tattered Corners regarding the whereabouts of the 12-hour meters.  I will let her know that four have been relocated to South Main Street.

Andy Walker
Assistant City Manager/City Clerk

City of Meadville
894 Diamond Park
Meadville, PA  16335

Ph: (814) 724-6000
www.cityofmeadville.org

“Meadville starts with ME!” Be the positive change you want to see in our City.

~~~~~

My Reply:
Thank you for your reply.

(Charlie Cervone reports that twelve new 12-hour meters have been ordered and are expected to arrive within the next two weeks.  When these arrive, several of them will be re- installed on the top deck of the Market Square garage)

Personally, I do not understand the logic of taking away meters that are being used by one group of people to give it to another group of people. If the employees on South Main have never had 12 hour meters, surly 'they' could have waited the two weeks for the arrival of the new meters.

~~~

And Andy replyed:

It is my understanding that the new 5-hour meters that were installed were initially thought to be 12-hour meters. When it was figured out that they were only 5-hour meters, the plan to locate 12-hour meters on South Main Street had already been communicated to City Council and was blessed by them…in an honest attempt  to create additional longer term parking options in that part of town.  Since the decision had already been made to locate 12-hour meters on South Main Street, four 12-hour meters from the top deck of the Market Square parking garage were “borrowed” to make that happen.  As referenced in my earlier email,  12 more 12-hour meters are on their way, several of which will be located on the top deck of the Market Square parking garage. 

I just hung up from Beth Huchert a few minutes ago.  She requested that we consider placing a few 12-hour meters on lower decks so that those spaces will still be available in the winter months when snow or snow piles prevent top deck spaces from being available. Joe and I will consider that request as well. 

Andy Walker

Assistant City Manager/City Clerk

City of Meadville

894 Diamond Park

Meadville, PA  16335

Ph: (814) 724-6000

“Meadville starts with ME!” Be the positive change you want to see in our City.

Meadville City Council Addresses Parking Ordinance

Press release on WUZZ / 7-18-13

http://mywuzz.com/content/post/meadville-city-council-addresses-parking-ordinance


(At this time, there is no ordinance or regulation regarding employee parking.)

Parking Sub-Committee

I want to talk about the 'differences' between what the Business Owners want and need when it comes to the 'parking issue' and what the City Of Meadville wants and is doing to achieve 'their' goal.

The Business Owners need a permanent fix to the parking issues. One that is NOT dependent on who is on city council. Those fixes must include changes to the existing parking code.

• A 'Customer Parking Only' zone, that is in the heart of the business district.
• Long term meters to accommodate part time employees.
• Business sponsored 15 minute parking spaces.
• A tier system for tickets. Violating the 'Customer Parking Only' zone would be higher, $25.00 than customers, running out of time on their meters. $5.00.
• Changing the hours that the meters are enforced from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm. to 9:00 am to 5:00.
• A clear and concise definition for validating  customers tickets.
• Business owners that need to park near their businesses for Loading And Unloading, need to get a uniform yearly pass, to display in their window during times of Loading And Unloading.
• A clear definition of the rules of conduct for the Meter Men.

The City Of Meadville:
• To coax employees to rent spaces and not change the code.
• To have have part time employees share rented spaces amongst themselves.
• City Council has not addressed this issue.
• Not clear on the city's point of view on the ticketing issue.
• Changing the hours that the meters are enforced from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm. to 9:00 am to 4:00.
• The City does not have anything on the books as far as validating parking tickets for customers. This is at the discretion of the Chief Of Police.
• Business owners make up their own signs and it is up to the Meter Men to decide who can Load and Unload in front of their businesses.
• The rules of conduct on the books right now only apply to the Meter Users NOT the Meter Men.

The parking problems that plague Meadville have been a part of and contributed to the death of the downtown for over 70 years. Businesses come and go due to lack of customers. No parking spaces, no customers. The Parking Authority was established 50 years ago to help solve the problems and meters were installed at that time to try to fix the problems.

Two $5,000,000.00 parking structures were built to give the employees a place to park. But because of 'bad attitudes' about the parking structures the employees refuse to use them.


~

These are the key points the sub-committee feels needs to be addressed. They were presented to council at the March 2013 meeting.
• Fines for parking violations, which start at $10 for an expired meter, are too high.

• Designated hours for enforcing metered parking, Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., are too long. Mangilo-Bittner and Langley recommend reducing the hours of enforcement from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.

• Options for employee parking are limited.

• The two-hour maximum time allowed for parking at some meters is not long enough.

They have written a letter and had the meter men place those letters in the windshield of the cars that they think are employees, feeding the meters. Many employees have moved away from the core business area. But many still remain.

Parking - Hovis Interiors

Hovis Interiors has been a fixture in Downtown Meadville for over 66 years. For 66 years they have used the alley behind their building to load and unload furniture into their building through their loading bay.

The loading bay was designed into their building with the approval of the city with the clear understanding that Hovis would be using that alley for their vehicles, when Hovis needed to load and unload furniture. 

Erie Bank has been in Meadville less than 4 years. They designed their parking lot with the 'only' entrance being on that same alley.

The other day, Hovis's truck was given a $50.00 parking ticket for using the alley. Hovis was then told they would have to park their truck on Chestnut Street to load and unload their 300 to 400 pound pieces of furniture.

Don't you think it is odd that the City of Meadville would choose to go against 66 years of permitted 'temporary' parking for Hovis Interiors because Erie Bank chose not to put an entrance to their parking lot on Park Avenue?

And don't you think it is a bad decision to cause a traffic nightmare on Chestnut for all the rest of the citizens of Meadville, over that of the customers of one business entity?

Wouldn't it be more prudent to make Erie Bank construct an entrance into their parking lot off Park Avenue?

Hovis Interiors has 2 buildings on Chestnut Street and has paid a ton of property taxes for those 2 buildings for 66 years.

It is clear to anyone who is looking at this from a distance that the business in the wrong is Erie Bank. Their poor design is NOT Hovis Interiors problem. Nor is it the problem of the citizens that drive up and down Chestnut Street.

Response To Request For An 'Employee Free Zone'

This is an update, 7-1/2 months after our initial request to council to implement an 'Employee Free Zone' along Chestnut Street and around the Market House.

http://meadvilletribune.com/local/x881895534/Parking-effort-targets-working-meter-feeders

Parking Letter To Meadville City Council

My name is Viki Allin, I am a Co-Owner of the Creative Crust Bakery.

Parking is a topic that can bring on very heated debates. The use of meters themselves have been debated.

People compare Meadville to Franklin and ask why can't we do what Franklin does. They don't have meters. But Franklin was designed differently. All the buildings on its Main Street have parking in the back. Parking, for the employees, with meters!

In Meadville there are many reasons why the meters are here to stay. Meadville is the County Seat. It's full of professional buildings, that do not have their own parking. There are Lawyers, Doctors, Insurance companies and many, many more. Businesses where people go to work and stay at work, all day long.

The meter system was enacted decades ago to promote commerce. To make sure that the retail businesses thrived and to discourage the employees of all those professional buildings from using the downtown as their parking lot.

As more professional institutions moved into the downtown, the city built parking ramps for the employees that worked at those businesses.

The principle is simple: provide ample parking, limit use to encourage a steady turnover of available spaces. Yet in spite of abundant parking, the weak laws governing limits on use of parking spaces, combined with sporadic enforcement of limits, have caused the parking system to fail at fulfilling its intended purpose.

Today, we, the retail sector, are still suffering financial losses, due to employees parking where our customers should be parking.

On January 2nd, I came before council and presented you with a proposal to create a zone in downtown Meadville where employees were not allowed to park.

I proposed this zone to run the length of Chestnut Street, from the Diamond to Water Street. That the zone extent one block, off of all arteries of Chestnut Street, from Main to Water Street. And this zone would include the parking spaces around the Market House.

I presented council with several examples of cities that have enacted this policy and told of the success these cities had with this policy. I also presented council with an example of the city codes, for one of these cities.

During that meeting, Nancy Mangelo-Bitner and Bob Langley agreed to chair a sub-committee to look into, this issue.

Their first step was to send out surveys to all the businesses in the downtown. After receiving the initial response from the business owners, Nancy Mangelo-Bitner and Bob Langley reported that 100% of the business owners in the downtown felt that, employees parking in the downtown were a detriment to their businesses.

Once all the surveys were collected and the information compiled, Nancy Mangelo-Bitner and Bob Langley presented 4 key elements of the results of those surveys.

1.   Reducing the price of tickets
2.  Changing the hours of parking enforcement
3.  Finding parking spaces for employees at downtown parking meters
4.  Meters with longer hours.

I believe all these issues are important and need to be a part of any changes made to the parking code.

But, they will have little impact, on the employee parking problem if the employee free zone is not a part of their final recommendation tonight. I am hoping it is.

We at the Creative Crust have 8 years experience with the employee parking problem.  The Market House Parking Ramp is located right next to the parking spaces around the Market House.

 Inside the ramp, there are 5 hour metered spaces, on the 4 level, and 3, 5 and 12 hour meters on the 6th level. On a clear day, with no snow as an excuse, employees will 'feed the meters' around the Market House and 'Will Not' use the multi million dollar parking ramp that the city built just for them.

It is unlikely there are any incentives powerful enough to change current employee parking behavior. Effective changes to the parking system must at the very least include a strengthening of laws restricting parking space use, to close the loopholes that allow car shuffling and meter feeding. And equally important, the consistent enforcement of the law.

Every year, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Chamber of Commerce puts in a request to the city,  to offer the citizens of Meadville, free parking along Chestnut and around the Market House. This year, the business owners asked that that request be denied.

The business owners ask the city to deny the Chamber of Commerce request for free parking because it wasn't being used by customers! All those spaces were being filled up with employees.

It is my hope that this year, when the Chamber of Commerce requests free parking for the citizens of Meadville, to shop in their own home town, that we, the businesses owners, will be able to say Thank You instead of No Thanks.

There is a famous idiom that says: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

In Meadville it would go: You can build a multi-million dollar parking ramp for employees, but you can't make them use it.

I think we can. We can by creating, an employee free zone.

By implementing the recommendations that Nancy Mangle-Bitner and Bob Langley present to council, and by enforcing the parking regulation.

I personally want to thank Nancy and Bob for all the hard work and perseverance on this, not so popular, issue.