Snow Falls, Parking Fees Rise, Norwalkers Squeezed

Local business owners unsuccessfully lobbied the Norwalk Parking Authority Wednesday to refrain from increasing parking rates in SoNo, as the agency seeks to cope with a budget strained by this winter’s snowfall and other rising expenses.

By unanimous vote, the agency board voted to boost hourly rates at the meters from $1 to $1.25 and raise a number of garage and parking lot daily rates and monthly permit fees by $1. The increases will take effect in March and April.

But the vote came to the dismay of some longtime local business owners, who said  the meter increases in particular will discourage shoppers from coming to an area where they're already charged for parking, unlike neighboring communities such as Westport.

“I understand you have to make the shortfall,” said John Deorio, the owner of , a Washington Street mainstay for 27 years. But, he added, it would hurt the perception of SoNo as a pleasant place to shop.

“We’re competing with four or five other municipalities for the consumer’s dollar,” he said. And though the increase is just 25 cents per hour, that represents a 25 percent increase, he observed. It also comes during a relentless winter when shoppers have been frustrated by the challenges of scrambling over piles of snow and ice as they venture from their parked cars to the stores, he said.

“We don’t want to kill the golden goose,” Deorio added.

Meanwhile Larry Pellegrini, whose family has owned for 60 years, said ticket agents are already much too quick to slap the minimum $25 fines on cars whose drivers have failed to feed the meters. Drivers can get tickets as early as 8 a.m., when some folks are just stopping for a few minutes to grab a cup of coffee, he said.

But Public Works Director Harold Alvord indicated parking officials didn’t have flexibility to revise the increase plan. And what was the source of those instructions? “From the top,” he said.

Parking officials said there wasn’t good reason to deviate in any case. “The rates are designed to discourage long-term parkers,” said Frank Del Monaco, parking general manager, referring to the proposed meter rates. He said many businesses are upset when those spaces are monopolized by cars whose drivers don’t want to park in other garages and lots because the street spaces are cheaper.

Besides the two business owners, the only speaker at the public hearing was Michael Ward, who said he wondered why the authority couldn’t recover funds through federal emergency assistance sought by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy

Officials said Malloy’s request—if granted—would cover but two of the days in this snow heavy winter. Even if funds are recovered, Alvord said, by the time ineligible expenses are deducted, such as straight time, for example, the authority’s take would represent an infinitesimal amount, of the winter shortfall. That shortfall is  estimated at $232,000, before Monday’s storm, he said.

 “For the parking authority,” that’s almost nothing,” Alvord said of the federal aid.

But snow hasn’t been the authority’s only challenge. Heavy fines have trained many shoppers to mind the meters and fees, cutting into what hitherto has been a lucrative source of revenue, officials said.

The revised budget through June 30 calls for total expenses of $5.023 million, or $309,227 less than that originally approved last year.