GENEVA — City Manager Amie Hendrix said the recommendation provided to Council that it scrap a program providing on-street parking overnight during the winter months, except for snow alerts, was an effort to gauge where members stood.
“We wanted to bring it to you first to decide your appetite for doing this,” Hendrix told Council at its meeting Wednesday night.
There is apparently little appetite for changing the pilot parking program initiated by the city in 2017.
Only Mayor Steve Valentino and At-Large Councilor Anthony Noone were supportive of the idea.
“I’m ready to take staff’s recommendation,” Valentino said.
The report, assembled by Hendrix, City Public Works Director Joe Venuti and Police Lt. Jeff Potter, said people are not getting their cars off city streets during snow alerts, which are issued during times when significant snow is expected to fall. Only a handful of alerts have been issued since the program was initiated.
That non-compliance is costing the city money, claims Venuti, who in the report to Council estimated that dealing with parked cars during snowstorms costs the city anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000 per event.
“When we cannot safely clear snow and/or place ice-control materials on streets due to parked cars, we have to return to that area,” Venuti said in the report. “Making second, third and often fourth trips to the same area is required at a cost to other scheduled work. It is not safe or efficient.”
Noone said it’s time to scrap the program, noting that municipalities all over the state prohibit parking, have alternate on-street parking, or initiate other protocols during the winter months.
“Some humans choose to make the right decisions and some do not,” he said. “(No on-street parking is) happening everywhere, and Geneva should not be an exception.”
However, others say the city is in an unusual situation. Many city homes do not have driveways, including a large swath of stately structures on South Main Street, one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, Ward 1 Councilor Tom Burrall noted.
“These residences were built prior to the motor vehicle,” he said, adding that the city “does not receive a lot of snow. Geneva is not in the snowbelt.”
“It isn’t a daily problem in the winter except for a handful of days,” chimed in Ward 3 Councilor Jan Regan.
Ward 2 Councilor Bill Pealer Jr. said the pilot program is a “major benefit to people who have multiple vehicles” and suggested that it become permanent.
Ward 5 Councilor Laura Salamendra agreed with Burrall that many people don’t have driveways to park in.
“I would like to see staff put more effort into workable solutions,” she said.
Added Ward 4 Councilor Ken Camera: “I think if we can get better communication, better signage, the program will be better.”
Pealer and At-Large Councilor Frank Gaglianese III said it appears to be less of a policy issue and more of a staffing matter.
Ultimately, some councilors said it’s time to start towing vehicles, something the report claims was not done last winter because it “could not do this fairly and equitably.”
Burrall said fines, which were increased from $20 to $75 in 2021, won’t do the trick, but a tow truck pulling your car away will.
Hendrix said the input Council provided is useful.
“I think we can look at how we can do this,” she said. “This is just the beginning of the discussion.”
