Petition protests city's parking fee hike

[Pat McCotter]

Whatever happened to parking meters?
By Michael Pina
Mon Jun 30, 2008, 02:51 PM EDT

Woburn, MA - Parking meters. They are widely regarded as a general nuisance to anyone who has ever owned, driven, or parked a car. Along Main Street in Woburn however, they do not exist.

Instead they have been replaced by friendlier signs politely asking that drivers not leave their cars there longer than a couple of hours.

Why does Woburn refrain from utilizing such an annoying, but common, form of revenue?

City officials differ in their answers, but most agree they're simply not worth the hassle.

According to William Campbell, the city clerk, Woburn had meters in the 1970s, but had them all removed.

"There aren't any meters in town today and I'm not sure there's anyone who would like it any different," Campbell said. "There were meters at one point, but those who got rid of them aren't around anymore."

Woburn Police Sgt. Paul Connolly said he remembers 30 years ago when Woburn had parking meters.

"They were a pretty good source of revenue, but I'm not sure why they got rid of them," Connolly said. "I think they might have been to much of a hassle to keep around. They were always breaking down and they ended up not being cost-effective."

Connolly said he would be in favor of a parking garage as another way to regulate parking in and around the square area.

"I think [a parking garage] would bring in revenue and be accepted," he said. "I know it has been looked into."

For now, the town resorts to signs that instruct drivers not to leave their cars longer than a certain period of time, but this method has proven difficult to track, Connolly said.

"We had an [officer] who recently retired who would walk the square every day and enforce the parking very well," Connolly explained. "We don't have a regular square man right now though, sometimes it's a young guy, sometimes it's a reserve, there's no real consistency which is what I would like."

At first, the lack of enforcement was a problem to business owners, who thought people would park in front of their stores for hours and prevent customers from shopping. But after about six months they realized that people would tend to park, do their business, and be on their way, Connolly said. The absence of meters actually brought a rise in people driving and parking.

"It has actually helped some businesses," he said.
A few towns near Woburn have taken the same approach to parking meters by getting rid of them altogether. Officer Daniel Murray in Wilmington said he does not see a purpose for them.

"We don't have any meters on any of our public ways because, since we aren't actually a city, there are limited spaces to begin with," he said. "There's really no need for them."

Over in North Reading, the issue is similar. Police Chief Edward Nolan said that due to the lack of public parking areas, there really isn't an area large enough to create significant revenue.

[John Edward Mercier]

How about the businesses build their own parking areas?

We're talking downtown....there' no space for these businesses to build parking....  ????

So Manchester should consider the spaces' maintenance paid for through the property tax paid by the businesses. Unless it has relevent cost to other tax payers, it would not be a shifting of financial burden.

[muni]

We're talking downtown....there' no space for these businesses to build parking....  ????

So Manchester should consider the spaces' maintenance paid for through the property tax paid by the businesses. Unless it has relevent cost to other tax payers, it would not be a shifting of financial burden.

Good point - the reason is not financial, it won't surprise me if the expenses related to
parking meters are greater than the revenue. It's more of a resource allocation problem,
when the number of people that want to park is larger than the available spots.

The way to allocate parking is actually market driven: Impose costs, so drivers have
an incentive to avoid parking or at least minimize the time they park .

muni .

[John Edward Mercier]

Then if they didn't allocate parking, would that drive the incentive for a commercial parking garage?

[muni]

Then if they didn't allocate parking, would that drive the incentive for a commercial parking garage?

Probably, but my guess is that the incentive to build parking garages is driven more by
the time restriction on parking. It's illegal to park for more than 2 hours, which in
effect sets the price of parking to $1 for the first 2 hours and $25 (or whatever the
fine is) for the 3rd hour. That's why the main customers of parking garages are downtown
employees who don't want to pay that much (or feed the meter several times a day)
and not occasional downtown visitors .

muni .

[dalebert]

On my first visit to Manchester, I remember a homeless guy telling me that a guy paid him to feed the meter for him while he was working his hot dog stand.

[J’raxis 270145]

Instead of begging, you can always encourage noncompliance.

I know some of you don't believe in registering your vehicles, etc......

Non-compliance would result in a parking ticket....which could result in your car being booted.....and also prevents one from registering their vehicle if there are unpaid tickets.

Which will just lead to such people driving unregistered vehicles, and in turn less revenue for the city and State.