LETTER TO EDITOR: Parking Challenges in Old Town, Shopping Center
One resident says he rarely goes to the College Park shopping center and plans to host fewer house parties because of parking restrictions and new meters.
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Eighty-five percent of Patch polltakers said they hate the new parking meters installed at the College Park shopping center, because they're either too expensive or too confusing.
One of those frustrated residents, Chris Tennant, shared his parking frustrations with Patch in a letter to the editor. He said he rarely visits the shopping center because of the meters, and he plans to host fewer house parties because of parking restrictions in Old Town.
First of all, regarding the specific issue raised, viz., the new parking meter system in downtown College Park, it is abominable! It was inconvenient enough when we had those old meters, which I strongly objected to, especially as a College Park resident. In fact, it was rarely, if ever, that I frequented the shopping center after those old meters were installed, but, now, with the new meters installed by the money-grubbing College Park authorities, I refuse to frequent the shopping center at all, unless I do so on foot. And, quite frankly, I think that a LOT of individuals will also stop using the center for the same reason, which is going to hit business very hard there. I realize that similar measures are being/have been introduced elsewhere, especially in DC, but again, with that comes a decline in local business. I used to go into DC frequently, especially to Georgetown, to go to a movie and have dinner but, after the harsh restrictions placed on parking in the area, it became impossible to do both and, sometimes, to even do one of those activities. And, of course, if one wants to shop, one can no longer do so leisurely, which again results in a decline in business.
As for what to do regarding the downtown shopping center, I feel that there should at least be an initial two-hour free parking limit, which would provide ample time for people to shop or have lunch/dinner in the shopping center, just as is the case in the non-metered section of Zone 6. As for on-street parking on Route 1, that is another matter altogether and I see no problem with charging for parking there, but with a NORMAL meter! Oh, and did I mention City Hall? Messing with those meters when we have to run in and do business with the city? Give us a break!
All of which leads me to an even larger complaint with respect to parking in College Park. Residents of College Park are issued annual stickers that permit them to park on non-metered areas of streets at any time in their designated area or zone, which, in the case of Old Town, happens to be Zone 6. However, those not having a parking permit for a specific zone are allowed to park for only two hours in the area and only up until five o'clock in the afternoon, which, as far as I know, is applicable seven days a week! However, based on the totally confusing parking signs in the area, it is virtually impossible to figure out what the rules of the game really are.
All that is bad enough! But the fact that I cannot throw a house party or host visitors because they are not allowed to park for more than two hours nor beyond five in the afternoon on what appears to be every single day of the week is really discouraging! Yes, yes, I know. We can go up to City Hall and buy one-day parking stickers for our guests, but why should we have to do that?!! As far as I'm concerned, it's just another money-grubbing scheme on the part of College Park to fill their pockets with money, and fill them, they do, for if one exceeds that two-hour limit by even a few minutes, he or she gets stuck with a hefty fine! There have been many times when I insisted on paying my guest's fine because I felt responsible for having forgotten to warn them about parking restrictions in College Park.
All of which leads me to yet another issue regarding parking meters and spaces. Until recently, I used to schedule my house parties and social events for Saturday or Sunday night because at least my guests could park free in the metro parking lot next to my house at the corner of Old Calvert Road and Columbia Avenue and not have to worry about being ticketed on those nights. However, it seems that new parking meters have been installed in the metro lot, along with new signs that are as vague as the old ones, even more so, in fact, since the old parking meters clearly stipulated WHICH hours you are allowed to park in the lot AND which hours you have to PAY for, which boiled down to free parking in the metro lot on Saturday and Sunday. What I need to know now is: what do the new signs imply? I have read them several times and THINK – but correct me if I'm wrong – that it means that we now have to pay to park in that lot at ALL times.
All in all, parking regulations and the overuse of metered parking in the area do not make College Park an inviting place to visit or even to live. The thought of throwing a house party, even on weekends, is now so daunting that I will probably curtail that activity considerably, since I would be able to invite only guests who can take the metro to my place. Moreover, as I stated earlier, my trips up to the local shopping center, which doesn't have all that much to offer to begin with, are not even worth bothering with, as I can go to Beltway or PG Plaza or even down to the Hyattsville Arts District and not have to put up with all that nonsense. Yes, I know that's a hassle too, but it's College Park that loses out in the long run.
In short, a fairer and friendlier system, not entirely based on how much money one is able to extort from both residents of and visitors to College Park, needs to be developed if the Old Town area is to become a more inviting place to live and do business.
Writer/Consultant and former UN Program Officer, MENA and CEE/CIS/Balkan Regions
Christian James
3:10 pm on Monday, October 10, 2011
We are starting to become familiar with Mr. Tennant and his many complaints about the city.
I have not used the meters, but I suspect that they are confusing, which is too bad.
However I have to support the use of metered parking in downtown College Park. Consider the alternative. Unmetered parking would undoubtedly result in a flood of free student parking in the downtown area. Students could leave cars in the commercial district just to walk to class. That would take up spaces for town residents who want to shop.
Also consider Chris's other complaints. To the charge that meters decrease visitors, I contend that few if any of the shops are conducive to long-term shopping. (Applebees is the only place I can imagine visiting for over one hour.) And if closeby residents are discouraged from driving, perhaps that is a positive thing. We should discourage car use altogether and promote walking or biking.
Other local areas have increased their meter fees and I expect that College Park is now competitive with those towns. That still may be expensive but in no way shocking.
To the charge that city employees are greedy, I say that is a cheap shot. The city provides excellent services and if Chris thinks that anyone is overpaid, I challenge him to name names.
It's unfortunate that residents of his neighborhood cannot easily organize social engagements. Perhaps we should see if the city can distribute one-day parking passes upon request for that purpose.
Chris Tennant
5:49 pm on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
I can well understand the need to have meters in the downtown College Park area, but was only complaining about the parking area inside the shopping center, which I feel should provide limited free parking for residents. However, I do appreciate your concern about students using the shopping center as a parking lot while they attend classes, although there are parking spaces on campus that are available to students. As for the rest of the downtown area, I have no objection to meters.
Regarding prices, the prices per se for meters are not all that unreasonable but the fines imposed for expired meters, not to mention for visitors to the area who misread the parking regulations in unmetered areas and end up being ticket, are too high, especially for the first offense. One way to resolve the latter problem is either to put up better signage and/or to allow more lenient parking regulations, especially on weekends.
As for one-day parking permits, they are available from City Hall, but they cost a dollar a piece, which is not a bad price if one has only a couple of visitors, but if you are hosting an event at your house and a dozen or so people attend, I don't feel that I should have to go up to City Hall and purchase twelve tickets, especially when I don't even know how many people will actually attend. There should be more leniency when it comes to guest parking in the evening, at least certainly on weekends.
CP Resident for a Long Time
3:57 pm on Monday, October 10, 2011
As far as the new meters, I have to say that I wasn't even aware that we had them. I tend to avoid downtown during the fall and spring semesters - it's not worth dodging the random pedestrian who decides to cross the street wherever they wish, or the time it takes just to get into and out of that lot.
When I do go downtown, I may not be a fan of metered parking, but I do agree that they're necessary to ensure students aren't using the spaces for free parking. And while I find that the folks who monitor the meters can sometimes be a bit too efficient, that revenue helps provide services for us. Think about it the next time it snows – the Department of Public Works does an amazing job of clearing the streets. I imagine we wouldn’t have such a great crew if that revenue wasn’t there.
I'm also curious - if Mr. Tennant is so dissatisfied with the way things are running in College Park, is he involved with the local government? Has he presented any constructive solutions to City Council? And if he has, and still hasn't gotten any resolution, why is he still living here?
Chris Tennant
6:07 pm on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
I have only two major dissatisfactions with the City of College Park: parking regulations and the absence of a real grocery store in the downtown area of College Park where many people without transportation have great difficulty doing weekly grocery shopping. Otherwise, I am pretty much satisfied with our little community.
As to why SHE is still living here, I moved here back in 1970 because I was teaching at the university at that time and because I like living in university communities. And yes, I am involved with local government but in the area of the arts. The College Park Arts Exchange does a wonderful job of promoting cultural and artistic activities for the community, something which I greatly appreciate. In fact, we have a lot of good people in our community but there is still room for improvement on specific issues, parking being probably the biggest complaint of all.
Pamela Torro
6:43 pm on Monday, October 10, 2011
Mr. Tennant - how about having guests to your house park on the Paintbranch side of the CP metro which is free on the weekends? They can then just cut through the station to your side. Not ideal, but a solution.
As for the meters, they are necessary for reasons mentioned above. However, with that said, they are utterly confusing.
Parking is validated if you attend the City Council meetings.
Chris Tennant
5:18 pm on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Thanks, Pamela! I didn't know that parking is free on weekends on the other side of the tracks ; - ) I'll definitely check that out. Are you referring to the parking garage, or is there another parking area on that side that you are referring to?
As for the meters, I have no objection to meters on the streets of downtown College Park, just to the area inside the shopping center itself. Although "free" parking should definitely be limited to avoid having students parking there indefinitely. Even allowing free one-hour parking should be sufficient for patrons of the center to take care of any business that they need or want to do there. And, yes the meters are a bit confusing but not nearly as confusing as the signs posted on residential side streets, which makes one wonder if and when one can park there if he or she is not a resident.
Yes, parking is validated at City Hall if one is attending City Council or local board meetings but I was thinking more about those poor souls who need to run in and take care of personal matters (parking permits, pet registrations, and the like) and who end up getting ticketed in the process if they are held up in line or whatever.
Pamela Torro
5:29 pm on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
From the wmata website re: the CP station, "Parking is free at Metro-operated lots on weekends and federal holidays. Most weekends, it's easy to find a space at Metro parking lots."
Patrick Wojahn
12:00 pm on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Without getting into how confusing the meters are (although I have to say, I've been able to figure them out without too much difficulty), they were installed in place of the old parking meters in the hopes of making the meters more convenient, not less. The old ones required people to have quarters - these allow you to pay with cash or credit card, and you can even extend your time using your cell phone.
Also, "free" parking is never really free - if the people parking don't pay for it, it has to be paid for by taxpayers or by the businesses in the shopping district. Land costs money - not just the cost of purchasing the land itself, but also the cost of maintaining the parking lot and dealing with the impacts of the people driving to a location as opposed to walking there or taking the bus. In my opinion, the cost of using the land should be covered, at least in part, by the person benefiting from it most directly - that is, the person parking there. It's like any service - if you want to store your car in a certain spot for a certain amount of time, you have to pay for it. A good article discussing this in more depth is "The High Cost of Free Parking" by Donald Shoup, available here - www.uctc.net/papers/351.pdf
Pamela Torro
12:11 pm on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Well, more than a third of the voters above found them confusing. Granted, I have only used them twice and it might take more frequent use.
Chrissy Rey
3:58 pm on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Mr Wojahn is the info about using a cell phone to extend the time on the meters available on the meters? I'll have to stop over at the shopping center to double check, but I don't remember seeing it there.
Also, I've been checking in with some of the businesses that are in the shopping centers with the meters, and two questions have come up more than once:
- Why aren't the new meters at the Kinko's/Applebee's lot, which gets a lot less traffic, and might have been a better testing ground for new technology?
- Does the revenue from the meters get split with the company that provides the meters, similar to how the speed camera revenue is split?
Patrick Wojahn
4:24 pm on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
This handy video from the Patch should help - http://collegepark.patch.com/articles/video-patch-explains-the-knox-road-parking-meters.
I believe the info about extending time on the ticket is on the ticket itself - you get a ticket ID number and a number to call to extend the time. The City Council prioritized the most highly used parking lots because, as I mentioned above, we thought the new parking meters would be easier to use than requiring people to insert change. And no, the revenue doesn't get split with the company that provides the meters.
Ray Sisson
1:43 am on Wednesday, October 12, 2011
I have shopped at this center for years and spent a lot of money. Several months ago I recieved an $80 citation for "Impeding Traffic" at the center. I called, and later visited city hall to contest this. I was told I recieved a ticket for this infraction which I did not! I asked to confront the code officer that wrote the citation, and was told this was not possible. I asked to contest this citation and was told the time had run out for that option even though I had just recieved the citation. None the less a secretary reduced my fine to $40. I dont want to revisit the shopping center.
Chris Tennant
11:17 am on Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Several years ago, II received a parking ticket as a result of my racing out to the meter to put yet another coin in the meter just as it expired. The parking meter lady got to the meter at the same time as I did and, despite my having immediately put another coin into the meter, she wrote me a ticket! I informed her that I had been at Radio Shack in the midst of making a purchase after having had to wait for quite some time and having put an extra quarter into the parking meter already while I was waiting to be served. If I remember correctly, the fine was somewhere in the vicinity of $40. I consider that outrageous, to say the least. I immediately went to City Hall and complained about what had happened but they appeared to be indifferent, informing me that once the ticket is written up, there is nothing that can be done. Needless to say, that only dampened my desire all the more to shop at the center. Sometimes it makes me wonder if the parking "police" are getting bonuses for the numer of tickets they manage to write up.
HLB
12:01 pm on Wednesday, October 12, 2011
I have to say I agree with Mr. Tennant. I understand there has to be some way to prevent people parking and leaving w/o visiting the stores, but is this at the expense of losing business? I avoid downtown college park because of the parking restrictions and go elsewhere to shop. The new system is just a pain. Yes, I can figure it out, but I just want to put my quarter in and go. I would be interested in hearing what the business think. Are they ok with the pay parking and a select group of residents taking their business elsewhere? Maybe it is not a big deal to them.
Peter Kulkosky
12:38 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The people have never voted on acceptance of the shopping center parking fee setup, and it is rights violation and wrong way to raise money for unknown purposes.
The small businesses and major companies, such as CVS should have fought against this kind of zoning violation.