The Parking Authority's excuse for ticketing at a recent food bank was that they received a complaint. Actually, they receive a lot of complaints, and many of them are from the same people, over and over.
I applaud Mayor Tuerk for publicly questioning in whose best interests the Authority is operating?
While he stated that he'll both appoint and/or dismiss people from the APA board to achieve reform, there are those who doubt his motivation about this, beyond lip service. My hunch is that he is sincere, but there are rubs to the whole situation. The parking decks created a huge debt service to meet. Parking bans in narrow center city alleys, especially those with houses, must be enforced.
The Authority at the April 12th council meeting seemed to put forth reasonable compromises to the problems. Assuming council can approve those proposals, despite some resistance by some council members themselves, a more citizen friendly Authority might emerge. I italicize the might, because change will require an attitude correction, which will remain to be seen.
Council will vote on the Authority proposals this evening
"My hunch is that he is sincere, but there are rubs to the whole situation. The parking decks created a huge debt service to meet."
ReplyDeleteYes, the parking decks did create a large debt service. And I assume that you're inferring that the APA built and borrowed beyond its means.
My question on that is who has lost their job, or lost their position on the APA Board, as a result of this over-building? That's right, nobody. And that's despite the Mayor acknowledging that he has the ability to change the Board (and therefore the Executive Director).
And to those on City Council who think that by not disbanding the Authority they are doing city taxpayers a favor, perhaps they should think again.
A quick trip to the city's annual financial report (which I doubt most on City Council even read) will show that the Parking Authority is already a component unit of the city, so their assets (and debt) are already rolled into the overall city financial picture.
Worse yet, who is ultimately responsible if the Parking Authority were to default on their over-abundance of debt? That's right, the Allentown taxpayer.
So if the "rub" for some in City Hall is that the Parking Authority has too much debt, but Council and the Mayor continues to allow an unaccountable Parking Authority to dig a deeper hole, they're missing the point.
Instead of protecting the city, they're actually allowing the Authority to dig the City's own grave (and the graves of city taxpayers).
"While he stated that he'll both appoint and/or dismiss people from the APA board to achieve reform, there are those who doubt his motivation about this, beyond lip service."
ReplyDeleteWe are currently approaching about six months of heavy and regular complaints against the Authority. The Morning Call has actually done some reporting and DOCUMENTED how ticketing has increased by over 100% in the last 12 months.
So what has Council or the Mayor done about the problem? Pretty much nothing.
Has one Board member been replaced because of the problems? Nope
Has the Executive Director been terminated? Nope
Has one APA employee been terminated because of over-ticketing? Nope. Reprimanded? Nope. Retrained? Apparently not, since they're now targeting food banks.
In fact, the Mayor has said on the record that should the city disband the APA, Parking Authority employees shouldn't fear losing their jobs. That's not exactly the words of someone who is really looking to change the situation. They certainly aren’t the words of anyone who wants ACCOUNTABILITY.
The Mayor should have demanded immediate change from the Authority months ago, and absent that should have been terminating Board Members and appointing new members who would make change happen. He should have called for a review of Parking Authority decisions over the last few years to evaluate the performance of the Executive Director and whether the Authority has accumulated too much debt. And he should have said that any APA employee who is found to be excessively ticketing in the city will not be welcome should the city decide to terminate the Authority and bring its functions in house.
But he's done none of that. So yeah, I'd call what we’ve gotten so far lip service.
If the latest outrage of the APA ticketing those in line for food isn’t enough to push the Mayor into real action, what will? Issuing a RFP over a month after council approved it isn't going to cut it.
Word.
DeleteI'm sure your likely an APA employee. No thinking, rational person would want to see people in need ticketed while waiting for food.
ReplyDeleteThe continued arrogance of the APA, as evidenced by this latest incident, is openly mocking the Mayor and City Council. The parking authority is out of control and needs to be disbanded.
While you and your APA cronies may delude yourselves into believing that you're "law enforcement", you're not.
You are meter maids doing a poor job of anything other than feeding the bureaucracy you work for. You're certainly not serving the public.
Some other things that should be noted about the Parking Authority:
ReplyDeleteThe Authority has been replacing single space meters with one-per-block kiosks. This is not for the benefit of those visiting the city. Doubt that? Go stand in line on a cold or rainy day not only to pay but to key your auto information into the kiosk. Then wait while the system "searches" to confirm your information.
I would argue that:
1) The APA should return to regularly spaced parking meters. Not only are they more convenient for the user, but they also maximize the number of parking spaces available on the block instead of allowing people to park wherever they want.
2) The APA or anyone else has no business taking anyone's vehicle information other than for payment purposes. If the kiosks remain, that should end at entering your license plate number. There should be no waiting for the computer to check your information.
By the way, I'd be curious if the Mayor or anyone on Council knows if the vehicle information the APA gathers on a daily basis from kiosks is retained for any amount of time beyond the time someone is parked there. It shouldn't be. Same goes for vehicle info gathered by plate readers mounted on APA vehicles. We don't live in a police state where our every movement is tracked. That's just wrong and un-American.
Bottom line: The Authority should be bending over backwards to make things easier for those visiting the city. People have many options - and just a few minutes away - where they can quickly park for free and not have their privacy violated. That's what city merchants are competing against.
That the APA doesn't seem to have ANY awareness of this is telling and why they need to be disbanded.
This is not a recent issue. Many years ago (before the APA) I was familiar with one of the dispatchers for one of the two cab companies at the time. Drivers would constantly complain about one of the cops constantly ticketing them while waiting to pick up their fare who called for a cab. This cop was eventually removed from patrol and placed elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young living on 100 block of South 10th I could almost never get a parking space. When I could I kept rolls of change and had to feed the meter every two hours.
I got hammered when we lived in the 600 block of North Poplar Street. even w/o meters. We were forced to park in side alleys. I was even ticketed for parking in front of a garage that wasn't used for over 20 years.
The point is parking in Allentown has always been a problem. It's part of city life Rather then exhausting ourselves we simply moved away from downtown. Seems like the only reasonable solution to me. Instead of being forced to deal with bad situations I've always thought it's better to avoid them. And that would be my suggestion. It's not worth the constant stress.
In regards to the wonderful kiosks... last year I went to Berkheimer to pay my ever rising school tax to educate kids that refuse to learn... you never know how long it may take, but generally it's a win for the parking authority since you pay for more time than you need just to be safe... WELL, I was in and out in minutes and to my surprise, there stood the parking officer and I was being issued ticket!!! I said "impossible, I was only gone a few minutes!!!" I complained vociferously and was asked if I had my stub, which I did... the comment was my license "didn't come up"!!! I said CHECK AGAIN!!! Same crap!!! Give me the meters, please, and forget this high technology baloney. I wonder how any other folks were issued tickets because the machine loused up????!!!!!.....
ReplyDeleteI stopped attending City Council meetings back in the Pawlowski era. Several times I caught an APA officer writing tickets at the meters right outside City Hall at 6:30 7:00 in the PM. Tried to put quarters in the meters to save people from getting tickets… was told by the creep writing the tickets. “The cars had overstayed the time period even if you put money in the meter.”They were marking tires to see that the cars hadn’t moved.
ReplyDeleteWouldn’t be at all SURPRISED if the APA didn’t have some enforcement officers outside last night writing up business.
Like shooting Fish in a barrel!!!
Just Saying
Just was wondering what the Parking Authority is supposed to do when someone calls in because they would like to pull out their car to go to work (or doctor's appointment, etc,) .but are trapped by double parkers or people parked waiting for their free food. Tho a worthy event, the planners themselves admitted it was poorly thought out.
ReplyDeleteOne reason I avoid downtown Allentown (besides the crime)
is the double parkers; I've seen people actually leaning on the driver's side roof their cars making conversation with people on the sidewalk, blocking a lane, seemingly oblivious to the cars almost hitting their butts sticking out into the adjacent lane. Another common occurrence is the double parkers with an open legal space a car length or two away, but it seems the royalty of Allentown should not be expected to take a few extra steps.
Bottom line is although the Parking Authority may be overzealous in some situations I would prefer that laws be enforced or the message will be sent that parking can be more of a free-for-all than it is already.