ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Residents seeking relief from what they’ve called over-aggressive enforcement by the Allentown Parking Authority could soon get it.
Allentown City Council met Wednesday to discuss a slew of proposed changes to parking ordinances, highlighted by a debate over cutting active enforcement hours.
- Allentown City Council is weighing whether to get rid of 24/7 parking patrols
- Several members voiced concerns over public safety and creating more work for Allentown police
- Allentown Parking Authority could reduce its active enforcement hours before the council votes
Allentown Parking Authority enforcement officers currently work around the clock, seven days a week, with 11 employees working each eight-hour shift of the day.
Council member Ed Zucal suggested slashing their enforcement hours almost two-thirds. Under his proposal, enforcers would work only from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays — a total of 57 hours a week.
The agenda for Wednesday's meeting showed Zucal was among five council members on the seven-person City Council who supported the reduced enforcement hours ahead of the debate.
But Allentown Parking Authority Executive Director John Morgan took issue with the wording of Zucal’s motion to approve that proposal, as it would’ve required the agency to stop all enforcement efforts outside those hours.
Zucal and fellow council member Ce-Ce Gerlach suggested a small change in the proposed ordinance’s language — referring to “active” parking enforcement or patrols — would address Morgan's concerns by letting enforcers respond to public safety issues and residents’ complaints during off hours.
“We can’t take too much away from the parking authority, because they are — I'm sorry — a necessary evil. We need them; the police need them.”Allentown City Council member Candida Affa
But the proposal still faced opposition from Council President Daryl Hendricks, who appeared to support it prior to Wednesday’s meeting.
He said it would be unnecessary and “unwise” to stop the parking authority’s enforcement efforts overnight and limit them on weekends.
Hendricks, a former police officer, pointedly asked Allentown Police Chief Charles Roca if ending all parking enforcement during those periods would create more work for officers and longer wait times for residents, to which the chief said yes.
‘A necessary evil’
Affa also said she is concerned about overloading Allentown police by making them deal with parking issues.
“We can’t take too much away from the parking authority, because they are — I'm sorry — a necessary evil,” she said. “We need them; the police need them.”
Zucal, also a former Allentown police officer, and Gerlach both clarified that the proposal would reduce active enforcement, not end all enforcement.
They also said the proposal would call for the parking authority to maintain a 24/7 dispatch to manage public-safety issues and residents’ complaints, so police would not have to respond.
Ted Zeller, chairman of the parking authority board, told council he plans to soon introduce internal policy changes that would limit active enforcement from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Zucal quickly amended his earlier proposal to include the same hours, which would mean active enforcement for 105 hours per week.
The parking authority also is set to start a 24/7 dispatch as part of its internal policy changes, Zeller said.
Affa said she supports getting rid of “unnecessary” overnight patrols, but maintaining the 24/7 dispatch so police can focus on bigger issues.
Council took no action Wednesday on the potential changes to parking ordinances and is set to continue its discussions April 26.
The debate could be somewhat moot if the Allentown Parking Authority changes its active enforcement hours.
Credit to residents
Zucal said he hoped council would have taken more action Wednesday on the proposed changes.
But he said he remains optimistic the updated ordinances will be passed in two weeks with clear, well-crafted language that alleviates the concerns of council members.
Zucal said the council must make changes “one way or the other.”
“It’s my objective to make sure that there are changes, if it takes one meeting [or] 10 meetings,” he said, crediting residents for putting pressure on the council to act.
Scores of residents have made impassioned pleas in recent months for changes to the parking authority and the city’s parking ordinances.
Dozens blasted the agency March 21 during a public forum at the Americus Hotel, while many previous city meetings also featured residents and business owners voicing complaints about parking.
Several Allentown business owners have made it clear to city officials that parking issues are affecting their bottom lines. Some businesses’ customers are being ticketed when they run inside, while others are staying away entirely because of parking, they’ve said.
“I thought I'd never say this, but thank you. It looks like you're really trying to alleviate things.”Allentown resident Betty Cauler
Greenburg Lemus, who owns La Cocina Del Abuelo Mexican restaurant at 621 Hamilton St., once again told council Wednesday that he’s getting tickets while trying to unload products for his business.
Lemus spoke at several previous meetings about his need for a loading zone or a break from enforcers.
He said Wednesday he’s racked up at least $9,000 in tickets and fees since opening his restaurant a year ago.
Several other residents detailed their concerns and frustrations during various points in the three-hour meeting.
But one resident who’s been to many recent meetings surprisingly thanked Zeller and Morgan, the parking authority’s top brass.
“I thought I'd never say this, but thank you,” Betty Cauler said. “It looks like you're really trying to alleviate things.”
‘Sick’ of talking
Gerlach said she wants council members to “fulfill our agreements” by voting on the ordinances April 26.
During Wednesday's meeting, she made sure council set a date for its next meeting rather than scheduling it later. She said she was worried about members “talking the issue to death.”
“I hope on the 26th to vote because this talking and talking, it’s exhausting, and we tend to do that a lot,” Gerlach said. "[I'm] sick of it as a council member; and when I was a member of the public, I was sick of it then.”
Like Zucal, Gerlach said she’s confident council will approve the proposed ordinance changes if they are well-written to ease members’ concerns.
Among the many parking-related proposals discussed Wednesday was a measure to eliminate jail time as a potential punishment for not paying tickets issued by the parking authority.
The "Vehicles and Traffic" chapter of the Allentown City Code lists imprisonment as a potential consequence for 11 different violations, though only if citations are not paid.
The maximum jail sentence for almost all violations is 10 days, but residents could serve up to 90 days for not paying tickets related to abandoned vehicles, according to the city’s code.
Gerlach said she’s especially thankful that council is working to eliminate all references to prison and imprisonment from its parking ordinances.
“Finally, imprisonment will be removed and we will stop criminalizing poverty,” she said.
