Downtown merchants urge commission to reverse or revisit railroad-lot metering; DDA chair and residents urge measured approach

Downtown merchants and business managers pressed the City Commission to reconsider a downtown parking plan approved at the prior meeting that included metering the railroad lot and other surface lots.

Why it matters: Downtown merchants said the plan was advanced without adequate outreach to merchants and argued that metering the railroad lot would deter customers who expect complimentary longer-term parking, and would burden employees who would have to pay to park to come to work.

Multiple speakers from the same businesses presented similar concerns. Shavon Baroian, who identified herself as a downtown retailer, told the commission: "I was very upset to hear that you all moved forward with a parking plan last meeting and didn't even tell us as downtown business leaders." Several employees and store managers from Periwinkle, Morley and Coco and Co. said the employee-parking implications were "an unfair burden" that could drive repeat customers away. Rachel Citrin, a store manager, said: "The lack of plan for an employee parking is honestly despicable. This place is an unfair burden on all of the employees and penalizes them who now just have to pay just to show up to work."

Dr. Alan Castello, chair of the Downtown Development Authority and a long-time downtown business owner, told commissioners that while meters have improved turnover on Atlantic Avenue, converting a functioning parking-management system into a revenue-maximizing approach would harm the downtown ecosystem: "Please don't throw away the baby with the bathwater and destroy the parking management that works with just a few fine tweaks." Several speakers asked for a public workshop and for the city to use existing DDA merchant outreach to shape changes.

Commissioners responded that the plan can be tweaked and that staff will return with additional options; some commissioners urged use of parking garages or voucher/employee programs to reduce the burden on employees. The mayor and staff said the prior commission action was a start and that staff will return with refinements and operational proposals for employee parking in garages and selected no-fee options.

Ending: Public comments were strongly critical of the railroad-lot metering decision; commissioners expressed willingness to refine the plan and asked staff to return with concrete alternatives addressing employee parking and DDA concerns.