The Committee on Traffic and Parking to Meet Tomorrow

The Committee on Traffic and Parking, chaired by Ward 1 Alderman Bill Roche, will be meeting tomorrow at 6pm to tackle an agenda featuring some important items including the scheduling of a public hearing about parking issues around business districts and the financial feasibility of increasing the visitor parking from 48-72 hours among other items.

In his Presidential Address read by his wife, Ward 3 Alderman Tom Taylor promised to hold discussions on parking issues experienced around business districts. In March, he submitted legislative item 192725 asking that this Board’s Committee on Traffic and Parking work with the Traffic Commission to conduct a Public Hearing in late April or early May, to review the effectiveness and/or lack of thereof, of the recent Traffic and Parking regulations targeting the major business districts; and to obtain feedback from the businesses within those districts. The item was also sponsored by all members of the Board of Aldermen with the exception of the Ward 1, Ward 6 and Ward 7 officials.

A previous meeting saw a tug of war with legislative item 192503 asking that the Director of Traffic and Parking perform a cost benefit analysis on the proposal to increase visitor passes from 48 to 72 hours and report the findings to the Committee on Traffic and Parking. According to the meeting notes, Director Matt Dias feels that there will be significant impact on the city if the visiting hours are increased. This comes on the heels of the FY2013 budget approval that featured increases in specific parking permits.

The committee will meet in the second floor committee room of City Hall at 6pm and is open to the public. This is not designated as a public hearing, and allowance of members of the community to speak is at the discretion of the chairperson. Other members of this committee include Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane and Ward 4 Alderman Tony LaFuente.