ALLENTOWN, Pa. — After countless complaints from residents in recent months, Allentown Parking Authority is working to update its policies and push for parking-ordinance changes.
Ted Zeller, chairman of the agency’s board of directors, said the proposals could “lead to a better balance” between enforcing the city’s parking rules and addressing residents’ concerns about aggressive enforcement and over-ticketing.
- Allentown Parking Authority and other officials have faced repeated complaints from residents about parking issues in the city
- The parking authority’s board is considering internal policy updates and calling for changes to the city’s parking ordinances
- An independent consultant is set to conduct a legal and policy analysis of the parking authority
The parking authority held a public forum last week at the Americus Hotel in Allentown, where it heard from more than two dozen residents who fumed about predatory practices and over-ticketing by the agency’s enforcers.
Several residents at the forum said the parking authority is “out of control,” and multiple business owners warned parking issues are hurting their bottom lines.
Brü Daddy's Brewing owner Rich Ryan told parking authority officials it seems as if they’re just trying to “drive as much revenue through the parking authority” as possible — a sentiment held by many residents at the forum.
The public forum was held after Allentown City Council this month approved a funding request from Mayor Matt Tuerk to analyze the parking authority.
The mayor said the study would examine the authority’s “unchecked power” and find ways to make parking in the city more “equitable and efficient.”
In his request for funding, Tuerk said there's a lack of accountability and transparency at the parking authority.
Updating policies, addressing complaints
After the public forum, the parking authority returned to the hotel the next day for their regularly scheduled meeting.
Less than 24 hours after the public forum, they proposed a slew of changes to the agency’s internal policies and the city’s parking ordinances to address residents’ complaints.
“Yes, we’ve had recent complaints. But these statutes … have been in the books for, in some instances, decades."Ted Zeller, chairman of the Allentown Parking Authority board of directors
The authority is looking to update its policies on expired inspections and registrations, according to a document the agency sent to city council members.
Under the proposed changes, parking enforcers would issue warnings instead of tickets for inspections that have been expired fewer than 30 days.
The authority also would rip up tickets if residents renew their registrations within 10 days of getting a ticket.
The agency is calling on Allentown City Council to remove all references to “prison” from its parking ordinances and to allow residents to park in alleys that are less than 20 feet wide, as long as there is a 12-foot passageway for other vehicles, according to the proposals.
The authority also plans to put “warning sirens” on its vehicles to give people a chance to move their cars before a ticket is written, Chairman Ted Zeller said.
In an effort to stop repeated tickets, the agency also is exploring payment plans and new software that would show enforcers if a vehicle had recently been cited, he said.
‘Finding the right balance’
Issues with some of the city’s parking ordinances have become clear in the past few months as the agency started enforcing them 24/7, Zeller said. The authority now has 33 enforcement officers, with 11 covering each eight-hour shift.
“What I mean by that is: the technology is so good that it’s actually making them too efficient,” he said.Santo Napoli, who serves on Allentown City Council and THE Allentown Parking authority board
Zeller, who has served on the parking authority board for about seven years, said the combination of internal policy changes and updated ordinances could be key to “finding the right balance” to make sure “that we're maintaining order and safety in the city, but not being excessive in ticketing.”
Many of the proposed changes are “probably something that should have been done a long time ago,” he said.
“Yes, we’ve had recent complaints. But these statutes … have been in the books for, in some instances, decades."
Zeller also suggested the parking authority also could look to move some enforcement officers off the overnight shift and focus on responding to public-safety issues and complaints from about 11 p.m. to 8 a.m.
He emphasized the agency is not looking to cut any enforcement jobs as part of its policy changes.
Many residents’ issues are caused by “outdated” and “ambiguous” parking ordinances in the city, according to Santo Napoli, who serves on Allentown City Council and the parking authority board.
Napoli wants to update those ordinances and make sure they’re “crystal clear” for residents.
The parking authority has “become almost a victim” of its investments in new technologies over the past few years, Napoli said.
“What I mean by that is: the technology is so good that it’s actually making them too efficient,” he said.
Napoli said many of the authority’s proposed changes have been “in motion” since late January, after officials noticed a spike in parking-related complaints from residents.
He said he hopes council will review those proposals “over the next week or two.”
Public safety considerations
City Council President Daryl Hendricks, who also serves on the parking authority board, said last week he is open to improving the city’s parking ordinances and called for enforcers to “use more discretion in some of the charges that are being issued.”
But Hendricks cautioned he will not support any changes that affect public safety.
“But we're certainly going to look at it and see where we can make changes,” he said. “And we'll make those changes if, again, it doesn't put the public at" risk.Allentown City Council President Daryl Hendricks
Speaking after last week’s public forum, he said, for example, he was opposed to letting residents park in alleys.
Residents “refer to them as alleys, but a street is a street is a street,” Hendricks said. “There has to be access for ambulances — and especially fire trucks — to get through them.”
Hendricks warned “it’s going to be a little tricky” for Allentown City Council to change some ordinances because of state law.
“But we're certainly going to look at it and see where we can make changes,” he said. “And we'll make those changes if, again, it doesn't put the public at" risk.
Zeller said he hopes the board’s actions in recent months show its “desire to work with the public to find the right balance.”
“This is not a bureaucracy that's going to get caught in red tape,” he said. “We promise to continue to try and get better and continue to work with the citizens.”
He said he couldn’t offer residents a timeline for the proposed changes to be reviewed and implemented, but hopes it’s “sooner than later.”
City Council is scheduled to meet April 5 at City Hall. The parking authority’s next meeting is set for April 26.
