Swampscott business owners blast parking proposal

SWAMPSCOTT – Several local business owners and residents told Selectmen they opposed a proposal to add parking kiosks to Humphrey Street, arguing instead that increased enforcement of parking limits would improve parking issues for businesses and residents.”The major problem is enforcement,” said Bernard Newman, owner of Newman’s Bakery, at the Selectmen’s Tuesday night meeting. “If police come and enforce it, then there’s no discussion.”Selectman David Van Dam said he proposed parking kiosks to address complaints from Humphrey Street businesses and customers about too few parking spaces along the street – particularly during the summer. The kiosks would also bring revenue to the town, he said. Town Accountant and Parking Clerk Dave Castellarin investigated a “pay-and-display” system where 30 electronic kiosks would monitor 224 spaces on both sides of Humphrey Street between the Lynn border and the Fish House. Castellarin said the system would cost between $230,000 and $285,000 but would produce a “conservative estimate” of $250,000 in annual revenue.But business owners and residents said parking meters and / or receiving parking tickets would deter local customers and add additional hassles to residents.”This isn’t Newbury Street,” Red Rock Bistro owner Paul Petersiel said. “There aren’t a bunch of boutiques attracting people from all over the world.”Resident Jean Leger also said that meters would push parking to smaller side streets where parking was already nonexistent.Selectman Van Dam emphasized that he favored a sticker system that would make residents exempt from the kiosks’ restrictions.But this once again invoked concerns about enforcement, both of current two-hour limit on the ocean side of the street and one hour on the other side, and any new meters.Selectmen raised further concerns over whether the proposed kiosks really addressed Humphrey Street’s parking needs or was primarily valuable as a source of revenue.Noting that the town’s new electronic parking monitors may make enforcement easier for police, Selectmen decided to continue the discussion at their second meeting in November.