By Francis X. Quinn
Staff Writer
—
New city restrictions on parking in the city's downtown business section may improve access for shoppers, but can be a headache for workers in the area.
Police Chief Michael Lane said the city's meter enforcement corps has been issuing an average of five tickets — costing $15 each — per day as they enforce Gloucester's new so-called "anti-shuffling" ordinance.
The new enforcement drive stems from action taken by the City Council in late November.
Adopted by a council vote of 7-1, the new ordinance language is designed to "regulate the practice of shuffling cars from one metered space to the next throughout the workday."
A ban on the practice has been imposed within the downtown area from Main and Spring Streets to Tally's Corner, at Main and Washington Street.
The new ordinance language declares: "Once a meter expires, it shall be unlawful to park the car in another metered space within the area" on any day except Sundays and holidays between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Lane says police hope word of the restrictions spreads. He said the general rule was moving from space to space "within close proximity."
"It's people that work downtown," Lane said. "We want people to be educated. ... We're not looking to nail people."
Asked how the meter enforcers, who are equipped with computerized ticket machines, keep track of which vehicles may have been moved from one parking space to another nearby, the chief says, "they learn kind of quick."
Five tickets can result in having a vehicle listed on a tow-and-hold list, Lane says.
As to those who need or want to park for the day downtown, the city treasurer's office offers monthly passes at $40 to 10-hour metered parking lots at Rogers Street and at Rogers and Harbor Loop, according to officials, and Lane says that might provide a relatively inexpensive option.
Under past practice, he said, some people "park on Main Street all day."
Yet, stepping carefully through ice and snow Friday, Gerry Brown of Action HomeCare said she understood the desirability of opening up parking places for business customers, but that the employees must be kept in mind as well.
"They need to address public parking so the workers in downtown Gloucester have a place to park," she said.
John Orlando, the chairman of the city's Downtown Development Commission, agrees that parking policy demands a big-picture vantage point, but calls the anti-shuffling initiative "an excellent idea."
"The Main Street parking spaces should really only be for customers," he says.
As for enforcement, Orlando thinks it can only lead to a decrease in violations.
"The meter people, they know who it is. ... Eventually, those people will get the message," he says.
Orlando also said businesses in the area ought to realize it is to their benefit to open access to shoppers.
By using Main Street meters themselves, he says, "they're only taking parking spaces off of customers."
Touting the option of nearby 10-hour meter parking for business district employees, he adds, "If we could push the parking pass, that would be awesome," he said. "We're not doing it to get people ticketed or fined."
Francis X. Quinn can be reached at 978-283-7000 x 3455 or fquinn@gloucestertimes.com.
