Middleburg’s Community Newspaper Volume 12 Issue 3
B E L O CA L BUY LOCAL
OP ITY AND SH R COMMUN SUPPORT OU
Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
Page 38
LOCALLY
July 30, 2015 ~ August 27, 2015
www.mbecc.com
Twilight Polo at Great Meadow
Printed using recycled fiber
Free Parking?
Page 30
Middleburg Town Council Report
O
Dan Morrow
n July 9, Middleburg Police Chief A. J. Panebianco Formally reported formally to Town Council on the results of his department’s study of a month long experiment in which the town’s parking meters were covered with bags that offered two hours of free parking. Though neither Chief Panebianco nor Town Administrator Martha Semmes offered recommendations prior to Council’s formal review, reactions to the experiment appear to have been overwhelmingly positive. Vice Mayor Darlene Kirk was explicit, noting that she “did not see many cons, and mostly saw pros” in the report. Turnover
Panebianco reiterated that the primary goal for Middleburg’s parking enforcement program was to ensure turnover: to make sure that every citizen and visitor had a chance to find a parking place, and that prime spots were not monopolized all day by a single parker. Parking meters worked, he admitted. They were less labor intensive than some options, and at any given time an officer could tell whether the driver of a vehicle had paid for parking. Unfortunately, with meters, he said, there was no way of knowing “whether the vehicle had been there all day or simply had not paid for five minutes.” “If the meters were removed and replaced with a technology-supported form of tire marking,” Panebianco continued, turnover would be encourage and the Police Department would have a much better understanding of who was moving along and who was not.” Not having some system in place “to encourage the turnover of parking spaces” creates frustration and harms the economy by making it difficult for shoppers and restaurant patrons to park. Appearances and Convenience Another important consideration, the Chief noted, was how having meter posts at every space in the newly constructed areas of Route 50 would affect the Town’s main street beautification agenda. Another alternative, a metering system that issued parking permits from dispensers in the middle of a block would “work,” Panebianco noted, but would be expensive and inconvenient for parkers. Using such a system, motorists would either have to “Walk to a box to secure a piece of paper and then walk back to put it on their dashboard.” Cell phone based options could be used buy more time at the meter, but would create technology and manpower issues for the police force, and undermine the primary purpose of a two Continued page 21
The 4th of July Page 26
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