SUNY New Paltz college student Taylor Veneitti was caught unaware by a recent parking ticket, and shared concerns about the lack of communication around rule changes and how they might impact less privileged individuals in the village.
Village parking meters are old, hard to repair and expensive to replace. Even as those machines fade into obsolescence, there’s been an expansion of paid parking that reaches back at least to the Dungan administration. Before the turn of the century, for example, parking was free in the Plattekill Avenue lot near Main Street, as well as the one adjacent to the village hall; now most of those spots are paid for by the hour, or by the month. Similarly, the spots created in front of Zero Place on North Chestnut Street are paid. Money that’s collected through fees has a different political impact than hiking property taxes, and the current mayor believes that charging for parking has benefits beyond the $200,000 or more that’s paid for this temporary vehicular storage. There’s a cost to providing that de facto public storage space, Mayor Tim Rogers has observed, and business owners believe that allowing drivers to leave vehicles in the same place for days on end discourages potential customers. An economist would likely agree that humans will do less of an activity that costs money, meaning that fees and taxes may lead to changes in behavior.
The most recent solution to be tried is a service that works alongside the existing meters and kiosks. Paying for parking through the new service — by calling a toll-free number or installing a phone app — costs more, because in addition to the parking fee, the consumer is paying money both to the service provider and to the credit card company for the privilege. For a paid spot that has neither kiosk nor meter, the extra-expensive option is the only option.
What had Veneitti frustrated was the lack of notice about the change. Not only was there no mass email to students who were likely unaware of the change, there are spots adjacent to Hasbrouck and Peace parks where there’s no indication of the need to pay. If one parks outside of Vanderlyn Hall, for example, one will see a row of metal poles that used to have meters atop them, but the only signage about payment is at the nearest intersections.
What the student asked for is an amnesty period during this transition, but what the student got was that specific ticket waived. An audit of existing parking to determine where more signage is necessary will also be undertaken. Stana Weisburd did suggest that tickets for the past week, at least, be dismissed; the mayor suggested that this should be discussed with parking enforcement personnel, presumably not during a public meeting.
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