Allentown parking ordinances get a makeover after months of residents' rage

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown residents who for months have complained of overly aggressive parking enforcement hope to see some relief after City Council altered the city’s parking ordinances Wednesday.

Council approved measures that will let Allentown Parking Authority release impounded vehicles once their owners set up ticket-payment plans and increase the distance that cars can be parked from the curb without getting a ticket.

• Allentown City Council members approved several changes to the city’s parking ordinances Wednesday
• Residents now can legally park up to 9 inches from curbs and get their impounded vehicles back after setting up payment plans
• Council shot down a proposal to allow residents to park in some alleys less than 20 feet wide

Council also voted to remove all references to imprisonment in Allentown’s parking ordinances. The Allentown City Code lists imprisonment as a potential consequence for 11 different violations, though only after tickets are not paid.

Allentown City Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach said Wednesday she was “happy to see that imprisonment is being removed” from the city’s ordinances.

“It came up a while ago, [but] there was some hesitation,” Gerlach said. “It’s been discussed for a while, so it’s great to see that the parking authority is now saying the same thing that was said a year ago.”

Parking in alleys

Council last week debated a measure that would have let residents park in alleys less than 20 feet wide but removed that part from the proposed parking ordinance Wednesday before approving the rest of the bill.

Councilman Daryl Hendricks made the motion to remove alley parking, which was seconded by Councilwoman Candida Affa.

They said last week they believe it would be irresponsible for the city to allow parking in alleys less than 20 feet because it could cause significant issues for first responders during emergencies.

Allentown Fire Chief Efrain Agosto said the 20-foot requirement was set to ensure firefighters have room to operate around their trucks.

The measure to allow parking in those alleys was removed by a 5-2 vote, with council members Cynthia Mota, Ed Zucal and Santo Napoli joining Hendricks and Affa. Ce-Ce Gerlach and Natalie Santos voted to keep the alley-parking portion in the bill.

Gerlach asked Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk to have city employees conduct an alley-by-alley analysis to see where the ordinance would apply.

That study would take about six weeks to complete, as Allentown has about 440 miles of streets, Tuerk said.

‘Commonsense’ solutions

The parking-ordinance changes come a week after the parking authority board of directors slashed the agency’s active patrol hours. Enforcers in Allentown used to patrol 24/7 but now will patrol only from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

There will be no parking patrols on Sundays or major holidays, agency officials have said.

Napoli, who also sits on the parking authority board, on Wednesday announced several “common-sense” policy changes to address residents’ complaints.

Enforcers will issue warnings instead of citations for vehicles that have recently expired inspection stickers, with residents set to get a one-month “grace period” before getting tickets, Napoli said.

The agency will rip up tickets for expired registrations if owners renew their registrations within 10 days, Napoli said. The parking authority board also has mandated that enforcers use horns on their vehicles and wait 90 seconds before writing double-parking citations, he said.

The new measures are “some commonsense items that we thought were really important to ease the burden for residents,” Napoli said.

The board will know if its policy changes are working when it looks at citation data in a few months, Napoli said.

The parking authority now is offering free parking for residents who attend Allentown City Council meetings in an effort to encourage residents to participate, Napoli said.