South Side business owners who do not serve drinks say they are feeling the pinch from parking restrictions that were meant to control the customers of the businesses that do.
The nighttime economy of East Carson and surrounding streets has been a focus for years of efforts to reduce noise, public nuisances and drunkenness, and creating parking permit districts was one solution.
But a concentration of permit parking districts from 10th Street to Hot Metal Street — permitting two hours between noon and midnight for those who don’t have a residential sticker — is leaving almost no options for daytime employees, said Jonathan Growall, president of the South Side Chamber of Commerce.
Those workers used to park for free on residential streets that had no restrictions, but in keeping bar patrons from hogging all the spots, the residential permitting system also has restricted daytime employees.
“We know businesses are struggling, and they have a range of employees who might be giving up a third of their day’s pay to park at a meter,” he said. “One of our banks is only hiring folks who can come in on the 51C or the 48” buses from the South Hills.
Efforts to squelch the mayhem that has ruled weekend nights for years now has gone too far, many business owners say.
In fact, allowing parking for two hours between noon and midnight provides a calculated plan for late-night revelers to arrive in time to get their two hours of permitted parking between 10 p.m. and midnight, then to stay longer because enforcement ends at midnight, he said.
Ned Shekels, a real estate broker on the South Side since 1980, said many business owners have called him, complaining about the lack of employee parking and wondering how much longer they can stay in business.
“I’m the one who brought them to the South Side and they’re asking me, ‘What are you going to do?’ They get tagged every day. They say, ‘What are our employees going to do?’
“Beitler McKee has been there 50 years,” he said. “Their employees are getting tagged. The people from Raff Printing [in business since 1951] are getting tagged. These owners have made huge investments and have been here forever.”
He said the parking permit districts were desired by a majority of residents and began appearing within the past two years.
“They wanted some help” to overcome lack of parking because of late-night revelers, “and we didn’t blame them.”
But with the time limits on the permit zones, he said, “the lifeblood of the commercial district is at risk. We talked to the URA [Urban Redevelopment Authority] about lots they own: ‘Why don’t you let us put in parking?’ They said no, wouldn’t talk to us.”
Mayor Bill Peduto’s spokesman, Tim McNulty, said the mayor’s office is working with a task force of residents, businesses and city officials “to seek joint recommendations to tackle parking issues.”
The task force has met twice this year, he said.
Council President Bruce Kraus, whose district includes the South Side, said he has attended weekly meetings for at least the last six weeks with business owners and the mayor’s office to try to craft a solution, including a meeting Monday.
It’s not an easy problem, he said, because residents followed the proper legal process to set up permit parking.
“We understand it is a complex and complicated problem to balance the peace and tranquility of the residents and the needs of the small, daytime businesses,” Mr. Kraus said. “We are in the process of putting together the answer to that puzzle. It’s in a discussion phase.”
Businesses are concerned that the permit restrictions begin at noon, during their workday. But Mr. Kraus said the neighborhood is overrun by Downtown workers who drive to the South Side, park on residential streets all day and take a bus to work, leaving residents no place to park.
Mr. Kraus said the likely outcome of the weekly meetings will be a recommendation to amend the residential permit parking ordinance in some manner to accommodate businesses. He said some of the businesses that are complaining haven’t been attending the meetings.
Fred Aheimer Jr., part owner of Raff Printing, said the permit squeeze “has made quite a mess of things. Part of the problem is that right across the street is the South Side Lofts, where they have parking areas most of their residents don’t use. They pay $25 a year for a permit sticker” rather than using the parking lot.
“We get two permits for the whole entire company” of 90 employees, he said. “One is on my vehicle, but most of the time, I can’t find a space.
“Our employees park anywhere they can find a spot,” including in a private lot, with the risk of being towed, he said. “You do what you have to.”
Mr. Kraus said he agrees that residents who have off-street parking available shouldn’t be allowed to get parking permits, but the current law doesn’t prohibit that.
Architect Gerald Morosco, who established his practice and residence on the South Side in the mid-1980s, likened the permit parking districts around East Carson to General Winfield Scott’s “anaconda plan” to strangle the economy of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
“Many business owners live here and invest here because we value the lifestyle that we worked hard to” establish. “In 1996 we won a national Main Street award. And this parking situation is eradicating three decades of public and private investment in this district.”
He said many people are frustrated and have joined together to fight for the historic district’s health.
Mr. Growall is among them. “We’re launching a campaign: Save the Historic South Side, and we’re building a war chest and fundraising to show people what’s happening and hope for support from the city.
“The goal should be to have a dynamic day and night economy,” Mr. Growall said. “The neighborhood has all these little spaces that have incubated tech companies, but that company wouldn’t start here now because it could not get more than one parking permit.”
Pete Decomo, chairman and CEO of ALung Technologies, a medical device company whose artificial lung is used to treat patients in respiratory failure, said parking for employees is an issue.
“We are not currently considering leaving the South Side, but this is an issue for us. If we grow, it’s important to attract employees.”
Diana Nelson Jones: djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1470.
First Published: March 18, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
