| Maryland Newsline |
| Home Page |
Politics
|
| College Park Ticket Thicket:
City, Some Businesses Benefit from Meters, But Customers Flinch
Maryland Newsline Monday, Jan. 21, 2002 First of two parts Suzanne Fish, a senior marketing major from Catholic University, held a $17.50 parking ticket in one hand and a WaWa Food Market bag in the other. “I can’t believe I got a ticket. I hate this town!” she said. “I was seriously in the store a minute.” Fish had just driven 20 minutes to College Park with a friend to get a turkey sandwich and a hot dog. They thought they could run in for the food they craved without paying the meter, since they hadn’t seen a meter man. But when Fish returned to her car, there was a violation notice pinned under her windshield wiper. On average, more than 100 people a day shared parking ticket frustrations such as Fish’s in the small downtown area of College Park, according to enforcement reports for 2000. And although the daily flux of college students to the town originally caused businesses to seek city help in controlling the overcrowded parking situation, the city’s aggressive enforcement now threatens to alienate some shop patrons. The city appears to walk a fine line between regulating a problem and relying on it for income. A Lot of Tickets
"They ticket a lot," said Scott Hengst, a Vertigo Books employee. He said some of his customers are unhappily surprised when they leave the store and find a parking ticket. The city’s parking enforcement office issued 44,843 parking tickets in calendar year 2000, for a fiscal year 2001 revenue of $1.1 million—or nearly 14 percent of the city’s annual revenue, according to budget reports. The fiscal year began July 1, 2000. The total number of tickets issued in College Park was nearly 40 times greater than the total issued in Greenbelt -- the next largest municipality in Prince George's County. (See accompanying table.) The College Park tickets aren’t cheap: It costs $2.50 more
for a
meter violation ticket in College Park than in the nation’s capital. Most businesses in the downtown area have no private parking and rely on the metered lots and street meters for customer parking. The streets and seven downtown lots hold about 640 parking meters, said College Park Finance Director Steve Groh. The parking problem “is totally discouraging for the customers,” said Muhammad Quaiser Baig, owner of a pizza restaurant in the heart of the downtown area. Even Baig and his delivery drivers are not immune. The delivery vehicles have been ticketed as they made stops outside his store, the Penguin Pizza and Grill, he said. And Baig, who sometimes lends his one reserved space to employees, said he has paid $1,100 in parking tickets during the three years he has owned the store. Baig gestured toward the empty storefronts across the street. There were five on the 7400 block of U.S. Route 1. One vacant space with empty boxes and leaves on the floor had a sign on the door with a phone number for Vic Pereira, of Optima Properties Inc. Pereira was looking for renters. “People lose a lot of interest when they find out there is no parking,” he said. Thomas Tsianakas owns the property Pereira is trying to rent. He said he has not spent much time at the property, but he has gotten tickets. He got one once when he was showing the property. “They give tickets very fast,” he said of the city’s enforcement habits. “If people get a ticket, they're not going to go there any more. “In the end, [the city is] going to lose. If there are no businesses, there is less money, there are no taxes.” Some entrepreneurs are more optimistic. Jenny Liu, a former University of Maryland student, said she plans to open a store in downtown College Park. She said she isn’t worried about the parking. “I think it is a problem that can be resolved,” Liu said. A Bit of Parking History
The Parking Enforcement Department of the city government was created about 30 years ago in response to complaints from College Park businesses, said supervisor Jim Miller. Students who didn’t want to pay for a university parking permit would park in the city and walk to campus, causing businesses to suffer when their customers couldn’t find parking nearby. Eventually an agreement was worked out between the city and business owners concerning the lots near the Knox Road and Route 1 intersection: The city would install and patrol meters, clear trash and snow, and issue parking fines. “The tradeoff for the city was the revenue collected,” Miller said. That revenue plays a large role in the city budget. The $1.1 million in ticket and $299,296 in meter revenue collected in FY2001 comprised about 17 percent of the city’s total revenue, according to city budget reports. “We’re always worried that if people paid the meters, we wouldn’t have the amount of revenue that we generate on an annual basis now,” conceded City Manager Dick Conti. Money collected, he said, has always been part of the general fund, “so it is committed towards supporting the general operation of the government.” The money does not go toward building more parking facilities. “We would love to have a parking structure,” said Groh. “But there is no physical land to put it on, short of tearing something down.” No Mercy
Most businesses are not so critical of the meters; they just find the lack of mercy aggravating. Unlike Fish at the WaWa, many accidentally miss feeding the meter on time. It’s easy to get involved in work and forget to feed a meter, Tsianakas said. Matt Evans, a bartender at Santa Fe Café on Knox Road, said the meters are annoying because customers will often have to leave during dinner to feed them. The lot across the street from the restaurant has a mixture of 20-, 60- and 90-minute meters. “If the meters were three to four hours, it would be different,” he said. Rick Magee, the manager of Potomac Video on Route 1, said some customers have to park at the 20-minute meters because there are no other spots. They stay longer than anticipated and forget to feed the meter again. They often get tickets, he said. But Ron Willoner, who remembers the period before the
meters, said they’re necessary. “There were times when I’d go to the hardware store [at the Knox Road and Route 1 intersection] and couldn’t find a place to park. I would drive home and walk.” The area resident serves as an attorney for Byrd Investment Co.’s properties in downtown College Park. Willoner’s client was one of the businesses that originally requested meters from the city. “We have meters on our property,” Willoner said. “The reason we have them is because if we didn’t, students would fill up the lots, and customers wouldn’t have any place to come in” and park. Of the parking situation, he said, “No one is satisfied with it.” Despite the number of tickets issued, city officials view their enforcement as a success for the businesses they decided to assist. There are no plans to change strategies. “Here in College Park, we are in the parking enforcement business,” Conti said. “Chances are that if you try to slip into the scenes, you will get caught with a parking ticket.” Copyright © 2002 University of Maryland College of Journalism
|
