New Hope Will Try to Double Parking Meter Rates Oct. 18 to Help Revitalize Local Economy

By Charlie Sahner

New Hope Borough Council will vote as early as Oct. 18 on a proposal that would see parking meter rates double on Main Street in what Borough Council President Bill Scandone said in a Sept. 3 statement was an attempt to “revisit the perennial conundrum of parking.”

“There has been a significant amount of dialogue and research involved with the Revitalization Committee, and I have been involved with data gathering and analysis,” Scandone said. “There was a 2010 study, and we’re following up on that with information gathered since then.”

If it seems unusual that a group charged with boosting New Hope’s economic prospects would recommend raising parking prices for the very tourists on whom New Hope merchants depend for their livelihood, it’s because they and some other New Hope officials believe that the shortage of parking spaces in New Hope is caused by employees of businesses snatching up all the good spaces near where they work on Main Street. Scandone, Revitalization Committee Chairperson Joseph Franlin, and other New Hope officials believe that doubling the rates on Main Street parking meters could drive local workers farther away from the center of town, leaving more parking space for visitors. Paying twice as much to park at Main Street meters “would be a bargain for visitors, given the rates charged by private lots,” according to Scandone.

“Parkmobil and other devices have made parking meters more versatile,” he explained. “Presumably, therefore, it would be possible to charge different rates for different locations throughout the borough.”

In fact, the ability to raise parking rates quickly and easily was a major consideration in the adoption of the Parkmobil phone-based parking meter payment system by New Hope in the spring of 2015, according to Borough officials interviewed at the time. Parkmobil users also automatically receive warnings on their cell phones when their parking meters are about to run out. Unfortunately for the borough, revenue from parking tickets dropped as a result. Parking meter payments and parking tickets make up a significant portion of New Hope’s annual operating budget, which has been under intense pressure for some time.

On Oct. 21, 2015, the Free Press reported that the Revitalization Committee of New Hope Borough Council had already recommended raising parking rates and extending parking meter hours of operation to compensate for the shortfall. At the time, the Revitalization Committee and Borough Council were also discussing a move to require “registration” by commercial building owners to assess fire safety, property maintenance and “appearance,” and charging them a $65 annual inspection fee. That move ultimately morphed into the adoption of the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code by Borough Council last month.

Borough officials interviewed since 2015 have downplayed the negative impact of the Parkmobil system on revenue, saying at first that there was not enough data to support the assertion, and later saying that parking ticket revenue overall has not declined, without explaining how they are offsetting the loss from Parkmobil.

When the Revitalization Committee advised in 2015 that the borough should consider raising parking rates and extending meter operation times to compensate for a shortfall in parking ticket income, borough council initially supported a parking meter rate hike, but was reportedly lukewarm on extending hours, sources indicated. In the end, the whole proposal seems to have been tabled.
At the time, Revitalization Commitee Chairperson Joe Franlin vigorously denied that any parking recommendations or advice had been discussed with Borough Council. Franlin is one of four contenders being considered Sept. 20 for the Borough Council seat being vacated by Cliff Montgomery.

Ironically, Montgomery and fellow Borough Council Member Connie Gering appear to have been active in the Revitalization Committee’s moves since 2015, belying assertions that the parking rate increase plan being considered on Oct. 18 is of recent vintage. Franlin continues to decline comment on questions about when he advised Borough Council on parking increases, and why the Revitalization Committee appears to be more concerned with closing the borough’s budget gap than boosting business prospects.

“I would like to point out that many of the answers to your questions can be found in the 27 months of Revitalization Committee minutes and two annual summaries that have been produced during my tenure as President,” said Chairperson Franlin in a statement.

Scandone refused to say whether the current plan is an extension of the one first presented to Borough Council President Claire Shaw and others in September 2015, or a new proposal by Franlin, and whether he and other council members initially adopted Parkmobil to enhance visitor parking convenience, or expand future flexibility to increase parking rates.

Reaction on the street to the Borough’s parking scheme was generally negative.

Business owner and resident Joel Roberts.

“We don’t want any parking increase placed on the back of tourists,” said one angry retailer.

Another retailer was fatalistic, saying, “They should create a space for local employees to park. But they’ll get an increase anyway. Let them have 25 cents if they have to. Just don’t tell the tourists.”

Mystickal Tymes owner and New Hope resident Eric Lee said he “could live with” a 25-cent parking increase, but that increasing some parking ticket amounts should also be considered.

New Hope resident, former Zoning Hearing Board Member, and Mechanic Street Mugs Owner Joel Roberts said, “This is a tourist town. A majority of the budget of the town comes on the backs of the tourists — parking meters, parking tickets, the Business Privilege Tax, and sales tax. So when you do something that hurts business, you’re killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

“It’s hard to understand how they can make it easier for tourists to pay for parking, then raise the rates on them,” continued Roberts. “It takes advantage of them. That’s ridiculous.”

Two other residents interviewed Wednesday were adamantly opposed to any parking increase.
“We don’t need our taxes going up because nobody comes here anymore,” said one.

“A disaster,” remarked another.

Meanwhile, Borough Council continues preparations for a parking rate increase.

“Assuming all the data are scrubbed and verified, a presentation is scheduled for consideration at the 18 October 2016 Borough Council meeting,” wrote Scandone in a statement.

Borough Council Decides Visitors Can't Park Past 11:00 p.m. in Municipal Lot

Vote in this Week's Poll on Parking

By Charlie Sahner

Until what hour should vehicles be allowed to use the parking lot next to New Hope's Borough Hall (formerly St. Martin of Tours church)?

That's the central question to be discussed and voted upon at the next New Hope Borough Hall meeting in two weeks. 

Right now, the meters at the lot stop running at 9 p.m. (as they do in most places around town), but parked vehicles are expected legally to vamvoose soon thereafter.

Some neighbors wouldn't mind less of a "circus-like" atmosphere, which they attribute to drunken revelers parking at the nearby lot late at night, by and large.  Others ask why this parking lot won't let patrons remain until at least 2:30 a.m., when many bars, restaurants, clubs, and other parking lots close for the night.

What's your view?

Until what hour should vehicles be allowed to use the parking lot next to New Hope's Borough Hall?

9 p.m.?  11 p.m.?  Overnight?

You can vote right now in a live poll (and see the results) at the New Hope Gazette.  Scroll down the far right column until you see the poll, and let your voice be heard!

Petition to expand hours at New Hope PA public parking lot gains momentum

 By Charlie Sahner

A petition asking New Hope's Borough Council to expand parking hours at the New Street lot adjacent to borough hall is now being displayed at dozens of business locations around town and appears to have garnered at minimum several hundred signatures representing residents, merchants and visitors.

The petition organizers, including local business leader Joel Roberts and Borough Councilperson Bill Scandone, are attempting to demonstrate support for keeping the key parking area open until 2:30 a.m., as are other lots in the borough.

The issue will be taken up at the New Hope Borough Council meeting scheduled for September 21, where a previous proposal to expand parking lot hours until 10:30 p.m. from the current 9 p.m. will be considered.

New Hope Business Leader Takes on Visitor Parking Tickets

Joel Roberts, like many raised in the Midwest, is the type of guy who tries to be friendly and helpful to everyone he meets.

He owns Mechanic Street Mugs in New Hope, PA and helped start, and runs, the Mechanic Street Merchants' Association and Second Saturdays in New Hope.

Some too young too know any better mistake him for Jerry Garcia; actually, he's related to Benjamin Franklin, and if you look closely enough there's a resemblance.

Most days you can see him out in front of his store at 10 W. Mechanic Street, sanding wooden bowls or finishing a crossword puzzle. He likes Rib Night at the Candlewyck Lounge. He avoids talk of politics and religion whenever possible.

But something finally got his goat several weeks back: reports were emerging among fellow merchants as diverse as Meshell Kimbel (God Save the Qweens) and Frank Policare (Penn Wealth Planning) on Facebook and elsewhere about visitors' vehicles being ticketed by police during and after the weekly Friday Night Fireworks event which begins at 9:30 p.m.

Seems that when the borough took over Saint Martin's Church and its accompanying parking lot, one of New Hope's largest, the tacit policy of allowing patrons to leave their cars after the lot's closure at 9:00 p.m. was discontinued.

Says Roberts, "A lot of our customers every day, but especially on Friday nights now that fireworks have started, question us store owners about the wisdom of this policy. I tend to believe them and feel that having a public parking lot close at nine p.m. and then ticket those people that remain is a really BAD plan. How do we explain to them that they can move their car to a meter on the street if they can find one and park for free but the borough lot is closed to the public?"

If the borough hall is going to be the place where borough meetings are held, how do we expect to tell attending people that at 9:00 they must remove their cars and move them to a street meter when the meetings run past nine p.m.?" he added. "This policy or ordinance makes no sense and should be changed in my opinion and others here on Mechanic Street."

Roberts fired off a letter to Borough Hall and, following a second epistle, was invited to appear before Borough Council at its next monthly meeting on August 17 to present his concerns.

Explains Council President Sharyn Keiser, "We want to hear from everyone in the vicinity [of the parking lot]; Council is not going to make a decision without their input."

According to Keiser, not only are residents of New Street potentially affected by parking policy at the lot, but also those of West Mechanic Street and the nearby Riverwoods/Village Two housing development.

"We want to be fair to everybody," she said.

She also said that those attending official borough functions typically held in the evening, like Council meetings and community events, are not being ticketed.

And lately, the borough seems to have stopped ticketing vehicles parked in the lot during weekly fireworks displays on Friday nights, although their owners shouldn't dawdle too long after the show is over in returning to their cars and trucks and moving them.

Still, Roberts will be seeking clarification and improvement of Borough Hall parking lot policy at the August 17 meeting so that New Hope's evening visitors throughout each week aren't turned off by unexpected violation notices on their car or truck windshields.

"I think that the parking lot policy could also be changed to "No overnight parking" and accomplish the same thing as attempting to close a public lot and leave people to only park on public streets at public meters," he said.

New Hope PA Profiting from Broken Parking Meters?

As local residents can attest, New Hope PA derives nearly $1 million yearly from metering and ticketing visiting drivers.

But many of those same meters appear outdated, poorly maintained and do not properly monitor parking time paid for by users, often to the Borough's advantage. The photos above are just one example: two meters on a single mounting post, one ancient and dripping condensation inside the mechanism and glass, the other digital, likewise dripping condensation inside the glass.

Having personally used the meter on the left several times over the last year, I can say that it typically takes a quarter and grants 20 minutes of parking time, might take another quarter, then on the third 25 cents does not register any additional time, averaging four quarters or $1 per hour. Remember, this is one of many malfunctioning meters, in this author's experience.

The condensation also makes the meters unreadable by users, but then again, many meters become unreadable by evening since they're unlit.

The funny thing is that many of New Hope's money-grabbing meters may be considered illegal to begin with under a state law which prohibits metering on state roads (Main Street is also State Route 32).

But never mind, New Hope will lease you a permanent parking space for approximately $1,050 per year, according to one applicant for a spot on the hill where the Borough Council is outfitting a multimillion dollar church for its new offices.

Ever been ripped off by a New Hope PA parking meter? Comment below and let us know!

New Hope PA Store Owner Feels the Heat for Being Honest

The owner of a God Save the Qweens, a punk themed clothing emporium on West Mechanic Street in New Hope PA, had the courage to speak the truth and is taking some heat from local bigwigs who accused her of the apparently unforgivable sin of "being negative."

What store owner Michelle, who has a local reputation for candor (along with a penchant for frequently-changing hair color themes) has been chastised for is having the nerve to poke fun at New Hope's parking problem by creating a humorous t-shirt that is selling at an apparently brisk pace.

It is rumored that complainers include a member of New Hope's Borough Council and another individual associated with the local Chamber of Commerce. Never mind that some of these critics voted recently to spend a rumored $45,000 for a "study" of the very parking problem whose existence they might like to deny.

Meanwhile, Michelle seems above it all, happy to have created something that visitors to New Hope are identifying with, and buying, in a big way.

God Save the Qweens is located at 13 West Mechanic Street in downtown New Hope PA, 215-862-2696.

Road to Nowhere? New Hope PA Spending $468,000 to Guide Visitors Away From Downtown

The Times of Trenton recently reported that Pennsylvania taxpayers will largely be paying for New Hope's $468,000 "Cultural Canal Walk."

According to the Times, "the new walkway would guide visitors from the borough's new parking lot, which accommodates motorists arriving via Route 202, away from the borough's heavily trafficked downtown, where even metered parking is scarce." Full story. http://bit.ly/2YpN0

Several recent trips down New Hope PA's Main Street, however, revealed a multitude of vacant parking spaces and shops as the Borough's economy erodes through non-benign neglect.

"Theoretically, the tourists would park their cars and follow the proposed landscaped 800-foot pathway on the western bank of the Delaware Canal," The Times continued. "It will conclude at the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad Station."

As is widely known, however, New Hope visitors mostly desire to be downtown, because that's where the "action" is. Developer George Michael's non-central, troubled Union Square corporate park does not seem of as much interest to tourists these days with the flight of key attractions Michener Museum, 5th Season, Blue Raccoon, and others.

Why are Borough officials so interested in sending tourists to the local version of Siberia?

The Times reports that "Borough Manager John Burke said, "We are overjoyed at receiving this additional grant. We had a project that was "shovel ready' (in qualifying for funding.)"

That rings true; the Borough seems to be shoveling it on pretty thick with this solution in search of a problem, in this author's opinion.

Maybe it's time Borough officials, three of whom are running for re-election this fall, to focus on bringing visitors back to New Hope's downtown, instead of pushing them away.

Quiet Weekdays of August

Empty parking spaces on Main Street in New Hope PA on weekdays have become commonplace, even on Fridays. Could it be zealous ticketing by traffic officers, or have local consumers tired of $10 cigars and $200 paperweights amidst the national economic downturn?