Category: News || By

City council is asking police to increase their enforcement of parking regulations along Fifth Avenue, Downtown.

The effort is designed to encourage motorists to use the city's two parking garages on Sixth Avenue and to improve parking meter revenues that one councilman called "anemic."

As part of the ongoing reconstruction and widening of Fifth Avenue between Market and Coursin streets, the city has installed new digital, electronic meters that replaced mechanical meters that were often missing or malfunctioning. The meters were paid for through a grant from the McKeesport Downtown Business Authority.

City Administrator Dennis Pittman said the contractor will be painting lines --- weather permitting --- to delineate the parking stalls.

. . .

But without an effort to catch scofflaws, Councilman Darryl Segina said, the new meters are useless.

"We need more enforcement to drive people into the garage, because our revenues are anemic," he said.

According to a group of consultants hired by the state to study and audit the city's operations, McKeesport needs to improve its collection of fees and fines --- including those generated by parking meters and enforcement.

In a report presented in December to Mayor Regis McLaughlin and city council, Delta Development Group said that compared to similar municipalities, McKeesport is "overly dependent" on real estate taxes and must find other sources of revenue.

The report notes that the city collects more than $300,000 in revenues from parking fines, fees and taxes every year, but only $40,000 to $60,000 comes from parking meter revenues.

. . .

Parking "fines and forfeits are consistently about $145,000 per year," the Delta consultants wrote, recommending that "better parking enforcement strategies" should be studied to "enhance and increase" that revenue.

McKeesport currently has one parking enforcement officer who works from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Police Chief Bryan Washowich said at a council work session earlier this month. Adding more enforcement will require financial support from council, he said.

"We're currently down four officers," Washowich said. "If we were given the go-ahead to hire additional personnel, we would hire them."

The Delta report suggests that instead of using only sworn police officers to write parking tickets, parking enforcement could also be handled by civilian employees.

. . .

One persistent problem has been with motorists who park all day on Fifth Avenue --- taking a space that could be used by a nearby business --- and carpool to Pittsburgh, sharing the cost of the McKeesport parking ticket. "That problem has lessened in recent years," Council President Mike Cherepko said, but it still exists.

Illegal parking near UPMC McKeesport hospital is also an issue, Cherepko said.

The criticism is not directed at the city's parking enforcement officer, said Cherepko and others. "None of this is intended to denigrate that man," Segina said. "He's done a fine job for years."

. . .

Washowich promised council an increased effort to enforce the existing laws. Patrol officers who work in the Fifth Avenue business district will be asked to watch for illegal parking and expired meters, he said.

But City Controller Ray Malinchak suggested that council members have bigger problems to tackle than parking meters.

"We've got $8 million worth of back taxes that we need to collect --- why are we chasing parking tickets?" he said.

Councilwoman V. Fawn Walker, who has been a persistent critic of the city's parking enforcement efforts, said she and her colleagues are paying attention to the larger picture, including delinquent tax collection.

"We are talking about it, but you can't just push one issue and ignore others," Walker said.

You are previewing your comment. Be sure to click on 'Post Comment' to store it.