Back in March, the Derby Board of Aldermen received a report from an engineering firm saying they needed to make a decision by June 3 on what to do with the city’s aging parking garage on Thompson Place.
That deadline has come and gone, but there is still no word on whether city officials plan to invest more in repairs, tear it down or build a new one.
Alderman Carmen DiCenso remarked on the blown deadline at the July 24 Aldermen meeting, saying the time had come for Derby to make a decision.
“We have to make a decision. Are we going out to bond? Are we knocking it down? Are we going to rebuild it? Are we going to fix it?” DiCenso asked.
A referendum for the garage was supposed to happen last spring, but it didn’t.
Then the garage was temporarily shut down in late February because of safety concerns.
The cost of the garage depends on what the city plans to do with it.
DiCenso said it would cost $3 million to tear it down, $6 million to refurbish or $19 million to build anew.
Those numbers have varied a bit over the years.
“We have to do something. That’s what’s the matter with the whole City of Derby,” DiCenso said. “For years and years and years, what do we do? We just let everything fall apart.”
“Keep kicking the can down the road,” said Alderman Stephen Iacuone.
“Right, and that’s what we’re doing here,” DiCenso said.
Ultimately the Aldermen left it to Barbara DeGennaro, the board’s president, to schedule a special meeting to specifically discuss the Derby Parking Authority.
Meanwhile, in other Derby Parking Authority news, the city’s corporation counsel submitted a Freedom of Information request to the authority April 23 asking for copies of documents — audits, repair documentation, bank statements and other info — going back five years.
The FOI request ruffled feathers of some of the parking authority members, according to minutes filed by the authority in May.
At the July 24 Aldermen meeting, Mayor Anita Dugatto indicated the city should talk about whether to disband the Derby Parking Authority, but didn’t elaborate.
Here is audio from the July 24 Aldermen’s meeting regarding the parking garage:
