Is it fair that residents must pay $3 to park if they want to attend Lehigh County commissioners meetings in Allentown, when the county’s nearby parking deck has plenty of spaces but is not open to the public?
“When people show up here, they should be able to park for free,” said Commissioner Percy Dougherty at Wednesday night’s meeting. “They should not have to pay $3, $10 or even one penny.”
“I don’t know where to put people for free,” responded Rick Molchany, the county’s director of general services.
Dougherty said the solution is to allow people coming to commissioners meetings to park for free in the county’s parking deck, which is along Walnut Street between Sixth and Seventh streets.
He said the gates of that parking deck are opened when special events are held in the county government center and suggested the same thing should be done “for people who want to come to our meetings. It’s not like we have thousands of people descending on us.”
Public attendance at commissioners meetings usually is very low, although their meeting room can be standing-room-only when they deal with controversial issues.
Dougherty recommended the county develop a system to provide parking deck passes to people who attend meetings.
Agreeing with Dougherty, Commissioner Michael Schware said attending public meetings shouldn’t be expensive, adding: “It shouldn’t be a penny, as Commissioner Dougherty said. I’d love to find a way to open the gates on our meeting nights.”
“We need to look into this before the next meeting and see how we can make this happen,” said Lisa Scheller, chairwoman of the nine commissioners.
She said the county should at least give parking passes to people who regularly attend commissioners meetings.
“I’m totally open to your suggestions,” said Molchany. “We have to figure out how we’re going to do it.”
He promised to look into the idea of offering passes to people who attend meetings on a regular basis.
The issue of having to pay $3 to attend a county government meeting was raised at the commissioners meeting by resident Lynn Donches.
A privately-owned parking lot across South Seventh Street from the county government center charges $3 for parking; $6 to $10 on nights when hockey games, concerts or other events are held in the PPL Center on Center Square at Seventh and Hamilton streets.
Donches objected to that fee and suggested county officials review it.
Because the lot is privately owned, county officials said they can’t do anything about the fee.
Donches also raised a safety issue about that parking lot.
Its entrance is only one lane wide but also used by cars leaving the lot.
Cars trying to pull into the lot sometimes dangerously are backed up onto Seventh Street waiting for others to leave it.
Donches said her car could have been rear-ended Wednesday, while she waited on Seventh Street for another car to leave the parking lot so she could pull in.
Commissioner Amanda Holt said on-street parking is free after 6 p.m. in Allentown.
“It’s free but there isn’t any,” responded several people in the audience.
Not long ago, it was easy to find street parking on South Seventh near the government center on Wednesday evenings. But spaces have become very rare since new restaurants began opening around the multi-purpose hockey arena.
Some students attending classes at nearby Lehigh Carbon Community College also park on the street ever since the parking lot increased its standard rate from $1 to $3.
Holt, who said she looked into the parking-for-meetings issue, reported that on-street parking “is not necessarily immediately available around here during events, but it should be somewhat possible to find.”
She also said that, on PPL Center event nights, parking costs only $3 in the garage next to Allentown City Hall, with shuttle service to Center Square.
County officials originally believed no county commissioners meetings were scheduled on PPL Center event nights for the remainder of this year.
But on Wednesday night, Molchany said a hockey game is scheduled on Dec. 17, the same night as a commissioners meeting.
“I know we’ve talked about possibly changing the commissioners meeting to a different night if we believe there will be no available parking or it will be very expensive,” said Molchany.
But Dougherty called the idea of changing the night of commissioners meetings to get around sporting events “ludicrous.”
“People expect us to be here on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month,” he said.
Dougherty showed a rare flash of anger when Molchany began talking at the same time he was talking.
“I am still speaking, Mr. Molchany!” declared the commissioner.
Only county employees usually are allowed to park in the county’s parking deck along Walnut Street.
But the county has been trying to make some money by charging for spaces in that deck on PPL Center event nights.
Molchany indicated the county has an agreement with the Allentown Parking Authority to do that. He said he will talk to parking authority officials about the possibility of allowing residents to park on the deck to attend meetings.
Dougherty said the county’s parking deck “is virtually empty” even on nights when hockey games are played in PPL Center. “There is plenty of room there on event nights.”
Resident Tom Cunningham said the parking problem at the county government center also exists during the day.
He said the lot across Seventh Street usually is full and no meter parking is available on the street, which makes access tough for residents coming to the government center.
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