Kent Officials Striving to Ease Downtown Parking Woes
Complaints have resulted in new parking ticket policy on East Erie, South DePeyster.
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In response to complaints from business owners, the Kent Police Department is stepping up enforcement actions against downtown workers who monopolize prime customer parking spots – particularly on Erie Street.
The ever-growing retail market’s need for more parking combined with a reduction in the number of available spots due to ongoing construction downtown has resulted in “parking issues,” City Manager Dave Ruller wrote in his Kent 360° blog this week.
“We’ve worked hard to generate interest in our downtown and it’s working so well that now we’ve got some parking issues to handle until PARTA completes their new 350-space parking garage,” he wrote.
“We’ve actually got a great comprehensive parking management plan that will be in full effect in March 2013 — the trouble is between then and now we’ve got to rebuild just about all the streets that have parking on them.”
The issue of downtown parking has been a top priority for numerous city officials lately.
Just last week, Jim Bowling, city engineer, gave a lengthy presentation to City Council about the comprehensive downtown parking management plan he and others have been working on.
The Parking Action Committee, whose members include downtown business owners, citizens and city staffers, met last week to share schedules, concerns and ideas for parking options.
And Ruller said Kent Public Safety Director Bill Lillich and police Chief Michelle Lee also met last week to discuss options for stepping up enforcement of the two-hour limits in downtown, including after 5 p.m. and on Saturdays, in order to keep prime retail parking spots turning over for customers rather than being tied up by downtown employees.
Because of those meetings, new signs were posted along East Erie and South DePeyster streets first thing Monday informing motorists of the new two-hour parking time limit and the 3 to 6 a.m. parking ban.
And, to make sure motorists got the message, Kent Police Compliance Officer Dana Frazier spent a good deal of time Monday and Tuesday hoofing it up and down those streets chalking tires and leaving warning slips under windshield wipers.
Today, Frazier started issuing actual parking tickets. Downtown employees who previously could park on on Erie for up to 10 hours by permit must now walk a little further to work.
Ruller acknowledged in his blog that "it’s not always easy" for motorists to know where they can and can't park downtown.
"Over the next week or so we plan to put together an information and marketing campaign that will include signs, brochures, ads, etc., indicating that the businesses along Erie Street are open and pointing out where to find parking in the downtown," Ruller said. "There’s no shortage of ideas for how to get that word out there and we’re going to commit city dollars to make sure that happens."
To read more about the city’s continuing efforts to improve parking downtown, check out Ruller’s Kent 360° blog post on the topic.
How do you feel about Kent's downtown parking situation? Tell us in the comments.
In This article
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Kent Police Department
319 S Water St, Kent, OH -
Clerk of Council
217 E Summit St, Kent, OH
Ned Blimpton
1:55 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
To play a little devils advocate here - what is the rationale for "No Parking 3am - 6am"? I'm happier knowing that cars that might have been driven by intoxicated people were instead left behind and their owners found someone sober or walked home instead of driving drunk.
MOST HATED PERSON ON PATCH
4:13 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
the rationale is, hey! fines for tickets/towing instead of... look at these responsible people who didn't drive home drunk...
*
9:11 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Many cities enact parking bans in certain areas of town for various reasons. Just be grateful they aren't making it difficult for visitors like Portland, Maine:
"Off peninsula, there is alternate side street parking (odd/even) from 12:00 midnight to 7:00 AM. Parking is only permitted on the even numbered house side on even numbered days and on the odd numbered house side on odd numbered days. Park for the day that starts at midnight."
Also, drunk driving is one of the grand evils of driving to a bar to drink alcohol. Sure, many, many people drink at home, but you don't have to get in your vehicle to get "back home" since you're already there. Since drinking is a big part of our social culture, and especially at bars, driving while impaired will sadly happen, whether or not the city inacts a parking ban from 3am to 6am on certain streets. By the time you're that sloshed, most people have no qualms about getting behind the wheel of their car, or urinating in front of a crowd of people, or getting in a fight. And, if I'm not mistaken, there are other places downtown which allow over night parking. Please correct me if I'm wrong about alternate downtown parking as I live in Kent but don't have to park downtown, ever.
MOST HATED PERSON ON PATCH
3:28 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
there are not any places that "allow" overnight parking downtown. there are places where you can "get away" with it, but it's not sanctioned.
*
8:04 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
See, I wasn't aware that Kent had no overnight parking. Even under the Haymaker Bridge? I know plenty of cars from Friday night are still there (and wedged in) Saturday mornings when the market is under way. Then again I could see that being a "get away with it" zone.
Really, no overnight parking?
MOST HATED PERSON ON PATCH
10:33 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
that lot is owned by pufferbelly, and it is a "get away with it zone"
*
11:21 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Oh my... Really? I fear you are right, but really? Are there not any overnight parking spots in downtown Kent? If so, how many? And if not, how far from the downtown must you get before one can park overnight?
Pam
8:04 am on Tuesday, February 14, 2012
I am disappointed that the Kent Police Department spends so much time chasing after the students, whether they are driving or walking. They leave very little choice for someone leaving a bar, and choosing to leave a car behind for their safety and others. The Kent Police will either ticket their car, or challenge a student walking home. Give students, residents and visitors an opportunity to protect themselves and our city - parking shoudn't have to be such a dilemma.
Pat
8:01 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
I can't believe the city expects the employees in Kent to walk blocks and blocks to go to work-there was black ice everywhere this morning and I was one of the lucky ones who only had to walk less than a 1/2 block to get to work. I resent the fact that the city expects the employees to walk so far or be ticketed. Kent has never given much thought to parking-just build and build and let people hike to work or to shopping. I would go to the Mall before I battled for a place to park in downtown. Find a solution to the parking plan now and don't wait till 2013. Open the lot to parking on the corner of Erie and Franklin Ave to FREE PARKING. I am so tired with the poor planning of the City Manager and Council.
MOST HATED PERSON ON PATCH
8:08 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
People who live in real cities walk farther to get to work everyday. I personally walk 3 1/2 blocks to work everyday. Sounds like a first world problem to me.
MOST HATED PERSON ON PATCH
8:14 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The city does have to look into providing space for downtown workers tho. Can't cut off one hand despite the other. Or however the saying goes.
Pat
8:14 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
You know B some people cannot really walk that far for either health problems or other issures--I am proud that you walk those 3-1/2 blocks daily. I can hear you now thinking well maybe you shouldn't be working if you can't walk that far and my comment to you would be--I need to work to support my family, and I am very capable of working a full time job, not walking for blocks to do so.
MOST HATED PERSON ON PATCH
11:46 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
bummer man...
MOST HATED PERSON ON PATCH
11:51 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
maybe you could get a segway! or whatever, it actually just sounds like you're fat...
Pat
3:17 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012
Excuse me B but I walk daily for my health normally--at least 20 minutes daily. I am only 140 pounds and I am 5'9"--under weight I beg your pardon. But I am 63 years old and have RA and it makes a hard walk on uneven side walks. Some days I can hardly walk in the early morning.
MOST HATED PERSON ON PATCH
3:28 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012
you're excused.
John caldwell
11:04 am on Tuesday, March 6, 2012
I work in downtown Kent. Given the unacceptable parking situation I come into the office each morning, work for two hours and then I go home and work. I refuse to park and walk blocks to work. I certainly hope my employer decides to move out of the city soon. If the city goes to paid parking I would not even think about shopping or going to restaurants in down town. I would go to Hudson were parking is free.....