At least, that was the position of city councilors Monday night who proposed resolutions aimed at solving a downtown parking deficit.
About 15 years ago, city councilors formed a Downtown Revitalization Committee and conducted a study of available parking spots. What they found was not a lack of spaces but rather a lack of customers. Today, however, the tables have turned.
"We have become a victim of our own success," said Councilor Robert G. Logan. "As the business situation downtown improves, the demand for parking increases and because the supply of parking has not increased, the deficit gets worse."
Among several proposed solutions, Councilor Sarafina "Sally" Collura filed resolutions to remove parking meters on upper Moody Street and also to investigate the merits of shared parking between businesses.
Collura said the removal of parking meters on Carter and Charles streets and up Main Street might foster a more customer-friendly downtown. In addition, she said businesses that close down at 5 p.m. might open their parking to the general public in the evening to eliminate some parking overflow. Both resolutions were sent to the Economic Development Committee.
Recently, Councilor Patrick J. O'Brien suggested valet services as a way to alleviate evening parking crunches on Main and Moody streets. "I think valet parking would help relieve a lot of the traffic pressure at night," O'Brien said, adding that he would work with the Traffic Commission on the matter.
But Logan said the council should have a more holistic approach to the parking problem. He proposed a resolution to conduct a study of the entire downtown area with a complete inventory of the available parking stock. Logan said the city needs to look at where parking is concentrated and get a professional analysis of how it could best be used.
"I think that could provide a framework to consider other proposals," he said. The matter was referred to the Committee of the Whole.
WALTHAM GETS HIGH TECH
Citing the success of other cities, including Boston and Arlington, councilors proposed a resolution Monday night to install a citywide wireless network.
Economic development and public safety are just two areas that could benefit from free WiFi access downtown, councilors said. City Councilors Robert G. Logan, Stephen F. Rourke, and George A. Darcy III, wrote the resolution.
"One of reasons I really wanted to pursue this issue is I think it would be great to get free wireless for the downtown area, and it could also save the city money," Logan said.
In Arlington, the police chief was the driving force in getting the city online, Rourke said. There, the city has mounted small units on streetlight poles to provide wireless access throughout the city. The police, he said, can set up a licensed frequency on the system reserved for public safety use.
Logan said banks throughout the city could have wireless internet connected cameras so that in the event of a robbery a live video could be transmitted to the laptop of a responding police car. The resolution was referred to the E-Committee.
Councilors Rourke and Darcy also presented a resolution that would assign a permanent tracking number to every item on the City Council docket that would allow immediate electronic tracking of any given issue.
"This is a matter of exploring how to best use the existing and widely available technology to improve our management of council business," Rourke said, adding that a spreadsheet system of docket items by tracking number would allow residents and councilors to quickly check the status of any matter.
The resolution was referred to the E-Committee, which will work with the city clerk to determine how such a system might be put in place.
CITY LOT ACROSS FROM ICE RINK CALLED DANGEROUS
Children and the elderly are at greatest risk of being struck be a car crossing the busy street from the city-owned Prospect Hill parking lot to the Veterans Memorial Rink on Totten Pond Road, councilors say.
The city lot is often used as overflow parking for the rink and since ownership of the rink transferred from state to the city last year, councilors have been working with the Traffic Commission to make the situation safer.
"Totten Pond Road has a 45 mph speed limit," Councilor Robert S. Kelly said. "What happens, God forbid, if one of those individuals or more are hit by a car?"
Kelly and Councilor Edmund P. Tarallo proposed a resolution to invite the city's traffic engineer to the next meeting of the Public Works Committee. The city has attained a 20-year lease to operate the rink. Tarallo said talks with the Traffic Commission up until now have been fruitless.
"I think it's time we took our heads out of the sand and realized there is a problem, I don't want to read about tragedies in the newspaper," Tarallo said. "I think it's time for this city council to get the information to move forward and do what is right."
Nicole Haley can be reached at 781-398-8004 or nhaley@cnc.com.
