Higher on-street parking rates planned in Scranton rival - and in some cases exceed - rates found in upper Manhattan.
During Thursday's city council meeting, council introduced an ordinance contracting with a private firm to operate its parking meters, a move estimated to bring in an additional $1.8 million in yearly revenue.
As a result, parking meter rates will jump from $1 an hour to $1.50 an hour, the same rate that drivers pay to park their cars in Manhattan from 96th Street to 110th Street, according to the New York City Department of Transportation.
Above 110th Street, and in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, rates are $1 an hour. However, below 96th Street, drivers pay $3.50 an hour.
Downtown Scranton business owners have mixed feelings about the parking meter increase. Some say they think it will drive customers away; others think it will open up parking for more traffic.
Frank Regni has owned the Windsor Studio, 408 Spruce St., since 1956, and said increases in little things such as parking start to add up when families and business owners consider coming downtown. He thinks people aren't going to spend a day downtown if they have to worry about putting extra money in the meters, especially with scrutinizing every aspect of their finances.
"My customers, I don't think they'll take that kindly," he said Friday.
Stephanie Grudis of Tom Grudis Optical Center, 424 Spruce St., said she thinks the rate increase will have the opposite effect by discouraging people who used the two-hour meters as all-day parking and opening up the parking spaces to customers who are just stopping for a short visit.
"You get people moving. They come in; they do their business, and they leave," Mrs. Grudis said.
Although she acknowledges customers probably won't be thrilled at feeding the meters more money, as a business owner, she thinks the increase will be advantageous.
"We're thrilled," she said.
Lackawanna College student and intern at a downtown business Joe O'Connor said he tries to avoid driving through the city during the day while meters are enforced. Raising the prices would discourage him even more.
He said the issue is also where the extra meter money will go, and how the money will be used to help the city.
"I agree that we might have to buckle down, but the right things aren't being done after we buckle down," Mr. O'Connor said.
In Philadelphia, drivers pay $2.50 an hour in center city, Philadelphia Parking Authority spokeswoman Linda Miller said. On the borders of the center and in University City, drivers pay $2 an hour. In the outlying neighborhoods, meter rates are 50 cents an hour.
In Allentown, parking rates are $1 an hour, said Tamara Dolan, executive director of the Allentown Parking Authority.
In previous years, Scranton has been able to take away roughly $1 million a year in revenue from parking meters with the Scranton Parking Authority.
The new arrangement would bring in about $2,847,000 million a year under management by Delaware-based Standard Parking, council solicitor Boyd Hughes said Thursday.
Roughly 1,400 parking meters also would be upgraded to accept credit-card payments along with coins, Mr. Hughes said.
SPA solicitor Joseph O'Brien said he could not comment specifically on the city's new plan for parking meters, because the authority is not involved in it. While the authority no longer is involved with the meters or has any control over the parking garages, the authority still owns the garages and would regain relevance if and when the receivership eventually ends, he said.
"We're not in the loop enough," Mr. O'Brien said. "The parking authority is out there if this receivership ends and the assets are returned to the parking authority. But we really don't have anything to say now. We're just siting there and waiting to see how it all plays out."
JIM LOCKWOOD, staff writer, contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, ksullivan@timesshamrock.com, @jkohutTT, @ksullivanTT