Proposed Parking Benefits District could benefit downtown district

Meter funds could be used for business district upgrades

  Creating a Parking Benefits District using money collected from parking meters could help pay for improvements in the downtown business district, according to city finance director Richard Viscay.

  Viscay was before the City Council Monday night asking it to consider a Parking Benefits District. The City Council agreed to continue further discussion of the request at a future Economic Development Subcommittee meeting.

  “The Parking Benefits District is a geographic district specific to an area of the city where parking revenues can be collected and designated for use in that district,” said Viscay.

  In Revere, that district would be the metered areas of the city, which are primarily on Broadway and Shirley Avenue and the municipal parking lots on Shirley and Central Avenues.

  “These Parking Benefit Districts would allow us to be flexible in the ways we use these dollars,” said Viscay. “Right now, we pay staffing, maintenance and capital costs of the meters themselves.”

  With a special district, the city could use the meter funds for improvements, such as benches, barrels, treescape improvements, pedestrian safety initiatives, electric car charging stations and other upgrades to the business district.

  “We’re just trying to improve upon the districts in which these meters are,” said Viscay. “We’re also proposing transportation improvements, which could include biking, walking and mass transit.”

  If the district is ultimately approved, Viscay said, the City of Revere is also recommending the creation of a Parking Advisory Committee to oversee the use of the funds. The committee would be made up of city officials, city councillors, traffic commission members and local business owners.

  Ward 5 Councillor Al Fiore asked Viscay how much money the city brings in from the meters, as well as from parking tickets. Viscay said the city has brought in about $100,000 from the meters in the past six months and collected about $1 million in parking tickets last year.

  Fiore said he would like to see the meters removed from the Central Avenue lot. “I think it is crippling the downtown business district and I don’t think it is user-friendly,” said Fiore.

  Viscay said the meters were initially installed to create some organization in that parking lot and to clean it up. He also noted that there is an annual business district parking permit, and that the city charges half the rate for that lot to create capacity. “We feel it is a benefit for the businesses and not a harm,” said Viscay.