Lynn parking board offers perk for residents

LYNN – The city commission overseeing city parking lots is adding automated payment machines and extending parking hours in lots to give drivers more reasons to visit and shop downtown.Off Street Parking Commission members said adding six vending machines where drivers can pay to park is a way to build on increased lot use downtown, especially at night.Commission member Taso Nikolakopoulos said he counted 80 cars parked in the Andrew-Liberty Street parking lot earlier this month. The lot is located across Liberty Street from the recently opened D?Amici?s Cafe and Rossetti?s Restaurant, and a block away from City Hall Veterans Memorial Auditorium – the site of city-sponsored concerts and Friday night movies.?There?s a buzz – that feeling of electricity is unbelievable,” Nikolakopoulos said.The commission charges a dollar an hour; five dollars a day and $45 a month for parking, but commissioners voted on Nov. 12 to allow free night and weekend parking through Jan. 3 to promote downtown businesses during the holidays.?The reason for free nights and weekends is promoting businesses and to provide a perk for new residents,” Commissioner Corey Jackson said.The city operates five municipal lots but the ones used by monthly parkers – mostly downtown residents and employees – as well as daily downtown visitors are located on Andrew and Liberty streets, Buffum and Ellis streets.City Assistant Parking Director Robert Stilian said replacing lot attendant booths with vending machines has not been a problem-free transition. Electricity supply problems have required repairs to some machines. Some machines are equipped with solar panels but lots like Ellis Street lack sufficient sunshine to operate solar machines.City plans call for expanding the Wyoma Square lot with its 40 parking spaces to more than 100 spaces next spring. The expansion includes adding land bordering Reinfuss Field and the Meadow Court housing complex to the lot and providing a lot exit onto Broadway by First Lutheran Church in addition to the existing entrance and exit into the square.View Lynn Municipal Parking Lots in a larger map