CARBONDALE - A bright yellow sign on the doorway to the Carwanna Lunch reminds customers to deposit a few coins before stopping in.
Parking meters, which became active in Carbondale in December, have gotten mixed reviews from business owners and residents parking in the downtown area. Each 15 minutes of meter time costs 25 cents, part of the reason Kathy Andidora said some of her customers had gripes.
"I think the biggest problem is they might put their money in the meter and they go long," she said. "Fifteen minutes just flies by."
The rate is the same amount charged in Scranton, but she said the cities can't be compared, and Carbondale might be better served with a lesser rate of 25 cents for 30 minutes.
"I'd love to see that, but I don't know. That would have to be a petition," she said.
Her restaurant is one of several businesses on Salem Avenue, which she said is sometimes totally empty of parked cars.
There hadn't been parking meters in Carbondale since 2005, another reason Mrs. Andidora said residents and visitors have been vocal about complaints.
"I think it's probably here to stay, and people need to get used to it," she said. "The city needs money. It's a way for extra income. People in this town just don't have the money."
Mayor Justin Taylor said the parking meters yielded more than $1,000 each week in January, so he had a positive outlook on the revenue they would generate from now on.
"People are saying there's no business and traffic because of the meters," he said. "That's just flat-out false."
There was also $759 collected through parking tickets in January.
"It sucks," Kristin Vail, 44, said of the tickets.
She has received two tickets since the meters became operational. She got the first on a holiday weekend, so she said she was unable to pay it within 24 hours, causing an extra fee. The second ticket was placed on her windshield moments after the meter expired as she was in the process of moving out of her Main Street apartment.
The biggest inconvenience is finding nonmetered parking near her home.
"I have to park four blocks away now," she said. "I have to walk at night."
She didn't mind the price of the meters, but she objected to their operation on weekends.
Also on Main Street, Bill Wallis, one of the owners of Wallis Furniture, said he has heard fewer complaints than he expected.
"I thought I would hear more than I did. They're easing into it," he said.
Patrons of the furniture store have access to free parking, which his daughter, Lynn Wallis, an interior decorator, believed was why their customers had less to say.
"Parking is a premium on Main Street," she said.
She felt that residents just needed to acclimate to the change.
"We've been without meters for so long," she said. "People are trying to remember to bring a quarter."
Contact the writer: rbrown@timesshamrock.com, @rbrownTT on Twitter