GREENFIELD — Before the new downtown parking changes went into effect Jan. 1, the town ran more than three-dozen ads on the radio, stories about the new system appeared in the newspaper multiple times as well as on local television news, and the town’s website had information about the lottery. But despite the town’s public outreach, some said they still were not aware of the new parking plan.
Greenfield resident Wilfried Voss, who rents an office space on Fiske Avenue above Mesa Verde, said he almost didn’t get a permit this year after missing the lottery deadline.
“For me, the situation was if I didn’t get a parking space, I’d have to look for a new office outside of downtown,” he said.
Voss was able to get a permit after speaking with the mayor’s special projects assistant John Lunt, but said better communication from the town would help prevent similar problems in the future.
“People are allergic to change, but if you communicate about it and prepare them, then that’s a different story,” he said.
Elizabeth Bellows-Bassett, owner of Elizabeth Alison’s Salon, said the changes came as a total surprise for her and the other women at Elizabeth Alison’s. She said somebody from the town should have visited her salon and other downtown businesses to assess their need for parking. She said Lunt stopped by this week to let them know the town is concerned, which she applauded him for.
“We are continuing to look for options to expand out parking,” Lunt said. “We’ve spoken with a number of people in the Ames Street area, so we’ll look to see how we can add in a few more kiosk parking spaces there. We don’t know exactly how many yet, but we want to be responsive to people’s requests.”
Emily Ballard, community engagement and advocacy coordinator at The RECOVER Project on Federal Street, said team members at the nonprofit were also not aware of the new parking plan.
She said none of the employees have parking permits, which are cost-prohibitive for the organization.
They used to park in the free spots on Church Street and in the Pleasant Street lot behind the Christian Science church on Federal Street, but the Church Street spots are now permit parking-only and half of the parking lot is permit-only, while the other half has been reserved for surrounding businesses.
“As a nonprofit employee, I can’t afford to spend $8 to $10 a day on parking meters,” she said. “As someone who lives and works in Greenfield, it’s challenging to not be able to park near your place of employment for a reasonable rate.”
Ballard said she would like to see some free on-street parking or a centralized, free downtown lot.
Lunt said the town has made the Downtown Economy lot and the Pleasant Street lot free on Saturdays and also lowered meter prices on side streets off Main Street.
“We’re trying to listen to downtown business people who have asked if we could make some space free,” he said.
The town will also step up public outreach efforts by having parking enforcement officers hand out informational pamphlets about the new plan, and communicating with permit holders via email. Amy McMahan, co-owner of Mesa Verde, has also volunteered to be a liaison between the town and the business community.
At-Large Town Councilor Penny Ricketts said she’s heard from many people who are upset about the situation, but said they should to be taking those concerns to the town’s Parking and Traffic Commission.
“If (the commission meets) during the day, I feel like there needs to be a night meeting. There needs to be a forum,” she said. “They need to have one or two evenings to allow people to talk, because maybe something is occurring that they’re not seeing. I feel like people need to go to the source.”
Lunt said it’s important to note there would be a difficult downtown parking situation with or without the new plan, and said the town will continue to listen to feedback and make adjustments as needed.
Town Council Vice President Isaac Mass said he’s going to ask the mayor to have the Parking and Traffic Commission hold public forums sometime in early March to hear from permit holders and local businesses about the impacts of the current parking plan.
“There are a lot of issues that are going on. I think the mayor is hearing some of them — I’m not sure he’s hearing all of them,” Mass said.
He suggested waiting until early March because the court won’t have its first jury session until the end of February, and it wouldn’t make sense to meet without knowing the impact jurors will have on the situation.
“Everyone is not going to be happy, at least not until the parking garage gets built, but I think hearing them out goes a long way,” Mass said.
Lunt said the town is working with the state to make sure jurors park in the Downtown Economy lot and worked with the Franklin Regional Transit Authority to create a free downtown bus loop that will go from the courthouse to the Downtown Economy lot.
“We’re still determining where best places for stops for that shuttle are,” Lunt said.