Mayor suggests more relaxed street parking hours
Share with others:
In a move likely to score points with motorists, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl on Thursday suggested dropping the expanded parking enforcement hours that took effect June 1 as an indirect part of city council's pension bailout.
While Mr. Ravenstahl may be willing to forgo revenue with scaled-back enforcement, council is not. Citing the city's financial position, Councilman Bill Peduto, the body's finance chairman, said a cut in enforcement hours would have to be offset with still-higher meter rates in some neighborhoods.
"These decisions need to happen neighborhood by neighborhood," he said, calling for neighborhood groups to have a voice in any discussion about more rate and enforcement changes.
Council President Darlene Harris also insisted that changes, which would have to be approved by council, bring no loss of revenue. She said the mayor's office and the parking authority can appear before council to make their case.
"If they can come up with the money, hey, let them do what they want," she said.
In December, over Mr. Ravenstahl's veto, council passed a pension bailout that taps more than $735 million in parking tax revenue over 30 years. The state hasn't yet ruled on whether the bailout meets its requirements, and Mr. Kunka said the fund's status remains "precarious."
The diversion of the parking tax left a perennial hole in the city's operating budget. Council -- against the mayor's wishes and without a pledge of cooperation from the parking authority the mayor controls -- voted to fill the gap by increasing meter rates and expanding enforcement hours.
The five-year schedule of increases began taking effect June 1. The enforcement period -- previously 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. citywide Monday through Saturday -- was extended to 10 p.m. in some of the busiest neighborhoods.
First Published August 19, 2011 12:00 am
