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Railroad Ave. Parking Stations to Go: City Council Decides to Go Back to Meters

Posted on: Monday, 13 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Mary Lane Gallagher, The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Wash.

Feb. 12--Railroad Avenue's much-reviled parking pay stations are history, the Bellingham City Council decided in a special Saturday afternoon meeting.

Many merchants on the 1300 block of Railroad complained to council members that the new pay stations have driven away customers since the stations replaced aging parking meters in early January.

Last week, the city's parking commission recommended pulling the automated stations and putting back parking meters.

Saturday afternoon, the City Council agreed, eliciting applause from many of the 30 or so people in the audience, including many Railroad Avenue merchants.

The pay stations, which cost about $10,000 each, will be turned off Monday morning, city Public Works Director Dick McKinley said. New parking meters should arrive in about two weeks, he said, and will be installed on Railroad soon after that.

Until then, parking on that block will be free, and police will enforce the one- and two-hour parking limits.

Wendy DeFreest said business was down 20 to 25 percent at her Avenue Bread bakery.

"If the good people aren't going to come down (to shop on Railroad), the bad people will come back," she told the council. "We're just starting to see some improvement in that area."

McKinley said the city was acting quickly to respond to merchants' concerns.

"We're trying to do the right thing," he said. "When they don't work, we fix them."

The lost revenue to the city from parking fees until the new meters arrive, estimated at $5,584, is less important than lost business revenue to merchants, said Council member Terry Borneman.

"That has to be our biggest concern now," he said, "that our businesses stay healthy and we're not going to damage them during this period."

When the meters return, they'll begin at 8 a.m., to be consistent with all the other downtown parking meters. The City Council had pushed back enforcement to 9 a.m. on the 1300 block of Railroad Avenue to help businesses that rely on a breakfast crowd weather the parking change.

But the new electronic meters won't have a "free flip" of 12 minutes, McKinley said.

"The 12-minute flip is a quirk of the old, mechanical meters," McKinley said.

Saturday's decision does not affect the new pay stations installed in the city's Parkade.

Reach Mary Lane Gallagher at 715-2285 or mary.gallagher@bellinghamherald.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Wash.

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Source: The Bellingham Herald, Wash.

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