Permit Parking Hearing for Perry Street to be Held November 12th

** (Updated on 11/26/13 – Just in: The Transportation and Pedestrian Commission will not be holding a hearing on November 12th as planned. It has been deferred until the December 3rd meeting.)

The Transportation & Pedestrian Commission will hold a meeting on November 12, 2013 at 5 p.m. (Updated on 11/26/13 – Just in: The Transportation and Pedestrian Commission will not be holding a hearing on November 12th as planned. It has been deferred until the December 3rd meeting.) to respond to and to consider community requests for permit parking, including the proposed permit parking on Perry Street between West 3rd and West 5th Avenues and West 4th Street between Perry Street and Michigan Avenue. You may recall that a neighbor on Perry Street organized a petition and gained enough signatures to apply to the city to change the parking status on these streets to permit-only between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. The initiative was the result of neighbors’ concerns regarding an influx of contractors from OSU that has resulted in an increase in litter, early morning noise, open container violations and a degrading of local residents’ ability to park near their homes, especially during the daytime hours.

A sufficient number of the signatures on the petition were found to be valid, and the city’s staff has conducted parking observations according to their procedures for permit parking. The petition and their parking observations will be brought before the Transportation & Pedestrian Commission on November 12, 2013 at 5 p.m (Updated on 11/26/13 – Just in: The Transportation and Pedestrian Commission will not be holding a hearing on November 12th as planned. It has been deferred until the December 3rd meeting.). The city’s process for responding to and considering community requests for permit parking includes public vetting and consideration. Public testimony can be provided at the commission meetings.

Some residents on surrounding streets including Vermont Place are concerned that this action will not resolve the issue and will instead only push the problem onto Vermont and the surrounding streets. At the October 16, 2013 Harrison West Society meeting, other residents voiced their concern with the petition in a broader context; they expressed discomfort with the idea that individual citizens can change the parking landscape of the neighborhood without discussion and feedback from other parts of the neighborhood and the society.

A society member brought the issue up during new business at the meeting and moved that the society send a letter to the city asking for a postponement while the society explores alternatives to a parking ban. A majority of the members in attendance agreed and voted to request the postponement. They felt that a flat-out ban was premature and would only push the problem elsewhere in the neighborhood without really resolving it. The goal of the letter is not to scuttle the proposed ban but rather an attempt to try to find a solution that will not push the problem elsewhere and that will not become an albatross that long outlasts the temporary problem it was designed to correct.

If you have an opinion on the pending parking ban, plan to attend the upcoming meeting. Details are below.

**(Updated on 11/26/13 – Just in: The Transportation and Pedestrian Commission will not be holding a hearing on November 12th as planned. It has been deferred until the December 3rd meeting.)

Transportation & Pedestrian Commission Meeting
Tuesday, December 3, 2013, 5 p.m.
50 West Gay Street, located at the intersection of Gay Street and Front Street
Metered parking is available nearby

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