The Municipal Parking Garage in downtown Derby has aging issues.
Mr. Foley can think of only two ways to handle these issues: either privatize the garage or knock it down.
Derby’s bi-partisan Parking Authority has sent out feelers to the owners and operators of parking garages in municipalities near and far in the hope of finding a buyer.
This has been an ongoing theme of the Parking Authority, but nobody is willing to purchase the garage. If anyone knows of a buyer, please do Derby a favor and let us know who
this entity is.
One needs to solve three major problems if they want to demolish the garage.
They need to find money to demolish the garage. It is not a cheap proposition to haul away the many tons of rubble let alone the actual cost of demolition. Additional site
improvements need to be made to use the land as a parking lot, a future new garage, or for some other use.
In demolishing the garage, one will also have to find a space large enough to handle the 10,000 cars that currently park in the garage every month. The logical place to put
these cars would be in a new garage built on the site of the old one.
However, a new garage today will cost many millions of dollars that we don’t have. Federal and State grants for parking garages are rare.
Finally, unless these spaces are found, one will generate legal fees in trying to explain why Derby is breaking its legal contract with the Senior Center, the State of Connecticut, and others and I believe our opponents have stated that they want to avoid unnecessary lawsuits.
There are at least two other options for dealing with the garage.
We can continue operating as we are. This method necessitates the application of frequent “band aids” and these are temporary fixes that need to be repeated often and
get more expensive as the garage gets older.
The Parking Authority generates enough revenue to operate this way for now.
The ideal solution would be a total renovation of the garage. This would cost at least $1.5 million dollars, considerably less than a new garage.
The writer is a Republican running for the Board of Aldermen. He is a member of the Derby Parking Authority.
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How long would a renovation render a critical parking garage out of service? And how would we come up with an extra $1.5m?
Chris, I think at one time there was talk about renovating a floor at a time while the garage stays open. Someone with more knowledge could probably offer better insight though.
Ugh. This is tough to say but I’ll say it. While the parking garage is a good thing — the parking METERS are not. We are the only city in the Valley with parking meters.
I don’t know how the garage is funded, nor do I care. Really. I stood there as a teenager and watched beautiful old buildings torn down to put up that ugly thing. We have a municipal parking lot downtown which is rarely used. Let them use that.
I totally resent having to pay for that garage by being fined for going to the dentist or the cigar store. I will not ever go running out to feed the parking meter. I currently have a $40 fine to pay that will not get paid until I’m taken to court. It cost me $10 to go to the dentist last time I was there. TEN DOLLARS because the quarters ran out while I was at my appointment. So I decided to go to the police station to pay my ticket. I waited almost an hour because only one person can take care of it and she was at lunch. I totally understand that. I was patient. But then she comes in and tells me I have to pay it at the parking authority. NO freaking way! Not going to happen. So I didn’t. Then I get a late fee thingy of $30 on top on the $10. Let it pile up and take me to court. Not going to happen until then. And I won’t be putting any more quarters in the meters either. I might just have to go buy newspapers and go to the dentist, etc. in other Valley towns.
I don’t know what the solution is for that garage, but it’s not coming out of what little money I have left after taxes are taken out of my pay.
Once the Derby Landing is complete won’t that offer plenty of free parking for those who want to shop downtown.
I don’t know. I haven’t seen these plans/ideas for the new downtown. It won’t be happening for several years yet. 🙂 Either way, it doesn’t change what’s happening now.
My husband isn’t available today but I would like to add a couple of things here for him, as I know his mind regarding the garage. How long would a reno take? Like Ken says I think it would be floor by floor so the garage would always be in operation. The money would come from the Garage itself – not from the taxpayers. The Parking Garage is an Authority just like the WPCA and the Housing Authority – they pay their own way. Rosalie, I’m not sure what to say. The meters are a necessary evil I believe but I’ll let my husband or one of the other Parking Authority members speak to that. Dr. Joel, we don’t have a lot of shops downtown, so the 10,000 cars a month aren’t really shoppers’ cars. They are people working at/attending the court, they are senior citizens at the Senior Center, and they are businessmen/shopowners who have to be in town all day. When the Landing is completed (projected for 2014 Q2 at this time), we will want the parking it provides to be dedicated to the shoppers and diners and such that use the Landing. I don’t think we would want 10,000 extra cars there for the Court system and etc. I’m guessing that the Landing will help some, with the other cars, but if we try to cram everything over in the Landing parking then I think we would be shooting ourselves in the foot. So, we do need parking just for downtown, other than the Landing. As my husband pointed out (rather well, I thought) in his column, there are many different options. It remains to be seen which one will be the best for Derby. By the way, the Parking Authority does meet once a month and the public is always welcome.
Judy, we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. The parking meters are not good. How does it work for people going to court? They have to run out and feed the meter? Excuse me, Judge, but because of your delays my meter is running out so I have to go throw a quarter in? I’m sure they just take their tickets and pay them. That’s a horrible thing to do to people.
Why should I have to pay to go to the dentist? Or to buy a newspaper? As it is, I pay for them both plus pay taxes on at least the paper — maybe the dentist too but those would probably be hidden fees. LOL!! I do not feel I should have to pay another cent more. I don’t even buy the paper anymore because the price keeps going up — I read it online! I know there’s maybe three free spots near the cigar store and will park there if I go there.
I don’t think Tony or anyone from the Parking Authority can convince me of the necessity of the meters. The meters are there to fund the Parking Authority, I think. And no matter why they’re there, they shouldn’t be. We are not New Haven — and even in New Haven I can find unmetered places to park. We are the Valley. I go to Seymour and can shop and eat all day long without paying anything other than for my activities. Same for Ansonia, Shelton and Oxford. I can park in front of my eye doctor’s. But I can’t park in front of my dentist’s place? Sorry, I can’t and won’t agree.
If the Parking Authority needs money that badly, they can raise the rent to people who rent their monthly spaces because they don’t want to park on the street’s by their house. Don’t take it out on those of us who want to frequent local businesses. 🙂
You make some really good points Rosalie. I have to be honest and tell you that I don’t go downtown that often and so I don’t have to deal with the meters and I’ve never thought much about them. My hometown had parking meters and I guess they seem like a normal, unavoidable thing to me.
I’ll let my husband know that you’ve posted again and tell him to get on the computer and talk to you about this … tomorrow 🙂 And, it’s perfectly fine to disagree, in my book! Don’t you agree? Oh. LOL.
This is for Rosalie – I talked to Tony (mine) and asked him about the parking meters. He says that the Garage needs the parking meter revenue to finance their operations because a former administration (not necessarily Garofalo!) made a long term contract with the courts and they have a sweetheart deal, because of that, where they pay very little to park there. The other interesting thing is that the shops want the parking meters. If there are no meters then I guess people can pull up in front of their store, park their car for free, head for court, or wherever, and block easy access to the store. So, I’m just reporting back to you – I’m not pro-meter or anti-meter. I’m an independent where meters are concerned.
Thanks, Judy. That’s kind of what I figured. But I still think it’s screwed up. Maybe there should be a sticker thingy — I forgot if I already said this. I have a sticker from the PD that shows I am a resident. (Hm … I feel like I’m repeating myself so I’m sorry if I really am! LOL!!!) and then those people can park penalty free if they’re going to the dentist or realtor or whatever other business we have down there. If the car is still there eight hours later, then give it a ticket. 🙂