Downtown Parking Fee Increases Before City Council for Vote

Haverhill City Hall. (WHAV News file photograph.)

Haverhill city councilors could vote as early as Tuesday night on proposed rate increases for paid parking on downtown streets and municipal parking lots.

Under a plan from the city’s parking consultant and the downtown parking commission, on-street paid parking rates would double to $1 per hour while off-street parking would increase from 50 to 75 cents per hour. Also daily maximums would increase to as much as $10 for areas with a current $8 maximum. The proposal would also bring uniform enforcement hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. to all paid parking areas.

Two weeks ago, Mayor James J. Fiorentini submitted two revised proposals, which were placed on file. They would distinguish the Central Business District parking zone into East and West sections bounded by Essex Street and Washington Square. The move purportedly would allow three city councilors with businesses on Merrimack Street to vote after an earlier ethics commission opinion excluded them from voting on the original measure for the district as a whole.

The Haverhill city council meets at 7 p.m., Tuesday, in council chambers at Haverhill City Hall.

5 thoughts on “Downtown Parking Fee Increases Before City Council for Vote

  1. There were benefits proposed/sold by the mayor and supported by the majority of the city council when paid parking was instituted downtown. Each of those benefits stated have been a complete failure.

    Instituting paid parking was sold on the idea that it would reduce the number of tickets written for parking violations and also open up more spaces for visitors to downtown. What the mayor and the councilors who advocated for this won’t tell anyone is the number of tickets written downtown is actually up significantly then before there was paid parking. The city went so far as to invest in a vehicle and full time employee to ticket people visiting downtown. With that kind of investment it goes without saying that the clerk has to have a ticket writing quota. Investing in a vehicle is just another means for the mayor to generate a revenue stream on the backs of the taxpayers. Think about it…the mayor invested in a vehicle whose sole purpose is to penalize visitors downtown. And this is NOT a subjective opinion…the proof is in the numbers. Please inquire about this WHAV !

    Secondly, paid parking was proposed on the idea that it would be good for businesses downtown and the employees that work there. Drive downtown lately? There are more empty store fronts downtown than at any time in the last 10 years. But that was a natural outcome and again one that the mayor, city councilors and the consultants absolutely refuse to bring up. That has to do with the number of people who now don’t even go downtown as a result of having to pay to do so. This is what happens when you have a mayor who is a self-proclaimed ‘proud liberal’ and looks at his role to grow government at the expense of taxpayers and private businesses.

    John Mitchison…you publicly voted and supported paid parking on the basis that “if it doesn’t work we can always end it.” John, it’s time to man-up….this isn’t working!!!! When are you going to stand up to the mayor for the sake of the business owners and citizens of Haverhill???

      • It went to the same place the FY 2013 $3.5MILLION budget surplus went.
        It went to the same place the technology improvements savings went.
        It went to the same place the salaries of two IT Directors not rehired after retiring went.
        It went to the same place monies raised from renting out downtown to a movie studio went.
        It went to the same place fees from incorporating a meals tax went.
        It went to the same place fees from Healthy Pharms in the future will go.

        That deep dark money pit the mayor has set up never to be spoken or heard about again.

        • Yet, the bill for the website wasn’t paid, causing it to be shut down. AND, this past weekend, when the folks went to “plug in” at Columbia Park, the electrical box was SHUT OFF for non-payment ! I think the Mayor needs to be held accountable for these fiasco’s including his outright fraud regarding the pot dispensary issue. The Mayor has hired part time workers or “floaters” in city hall so he doesn’t have to give them benefits yet they know how to do nothing. Fess up Mayor, where is all the money ?