BERLIN– A tempest in a teapot, brewing for years, began to boil over during a Mayor and Council Meeting on Monday, July 14.
As traffic into the town continues to increase exponentially, a limited number of public parking spaces continue to be unavailable. Aggravating the problem, some residents and workers in the busy downtown area have been accused of abusing Berlin’s lenient parking laws.
Bill Outten, who runs both locations of Town Center Antiques, and Walt Dennison, owner of Walt’s Train Shop, asked the council to create a 30-minute loading zone near their stores on Pitts Street in order to accommodate inventory deliveries. A 30-minute debate erupted, causing the council to table the motion into order to more fully explore their options.
Tensions continued to rise the following week.
“There’s always been a parking problem.” said Dennison. “Now, it’s (gotten worse) because we don’t have the parking space for the number of new vehicles.
“The problem isn’t everywhere and it isn’t everybody,” Dennison continued. “It’s a few issues throughout the town. It’s my feeling and my opinion that it’s the merchants and the store owners, parking in retail streets, even in front of their own businesses.”
Dennison, who moved his business to Pitts Street three years ago, complained about the “deliberate” actions of a select few, including on Pitts Street, where parking is marked for two-hour limits.
“I have pictures of some of those people lining up on the street all day,” he said. “So the problem here is a bit more severe than it is in other places, but I also notice it on other streets where merchants park very closely to their store instead of making some effort to respect the other merchants in town.”
Dennison added that the town doesn’t offer adequate parking for merchants. A few downtown businesses, including Taylor Bank, allow merchants to use their parking lot. In his case, Dennison is able to walk to work.
“When we get the tourists coming in they need all the space they can find,” he said. “I think there has to be some effort by those people who deliberately and with vengeance park where they do. I don’t think there’s just one answer, but if people don’t think there are any parking issues they have their head in the sand.
“I do believe if the Chamber of Commerce were to encourage (cooperation) among their members that would probably help,” Dennison continued. “I don’t know if just a single spot on either side of the street would make a difference. It would be much better if the merchants themselves did it so we didn’t have to go to the town. But it’s an attitude problem.”
One option the council discussed was making Pitts Street one-way, headed east. Dennison favored the move.
“One whole side of the street could become an ‘unloading zone.’ I think one-way on Pitts Street would work, but before we do that we have to stop this,” he said, referring to merchant abuse of the two-hour parking laws.
Toni Stuart, owner of Stuart’s Antiques, admitted she occasionally parked in front of her store.
“I do it because I’ve been suffering from a bulging disk and I can hardly walk and I can’t carry stuff,” she said. “I have stuff I have to unload every day, and so I park here, but I don’t mind during the summer months parking in the back. That’s what I’ve been doing.
“From October through June I think it’s ridiculous not just to leave it, but during the busy summer months I think it would be appropriate to just ask me.”
Stuart, who has been in the same location for 26 years, was against the proposed loading zones, saying delivery trucks frequently knocked down the awning over her store.
“It’s happened about 10 times now,” she said.
She would, however, support making Pitts Street one-way.
“It’s too narrow,” she said. “My little car doesn’t hurt it at all, but a big truck would park here, because they do it now.
Outten, who opened his Pitts Street location two years ago, blamed much of the parking problem on “apartment dwellers.”
“They live right upstairs and they park their everyday,” he said. “We don’t want to be a town that gives tickets to everybody, but I think if they give two or three warnings and they still see people doing it they should have the authority to give a ticket.”
Outten said the two-hour parking spaces, debated during the council meeting as being outdated, were meant to prevent residents from parking in spaces intended for customers. He believes the town is best equipped to handle Berlin’s parking woes.
“I don’t think the Merchant’s Association is the vehicle for that,” he said. “I think the town needs to handle it. If it gets out of hand – which it’s slowly but surely getting to that point – they have got to be the ones. Nobody is going to self-police. I’ve never seen it work anywhere.
“When we approached the town when we opened that building they were supposed to paint (the street) red and make it a loading zone,” Outten continued. “We definitely need a loading zone. We have 150 lots in one store and 100 in the other, and there’s nowhere to load.”
As traffic into the town continues to increase exponentially, a limited number of public parking spaces continue to be unavailable. Aggravating the problem, some residents and workers in the busy downtown area have been accused of abusing Berlin’s lenient parking laws.
Bill Outten, who runs both locations of Town Center Antiques, and Walt Dennison, owner of Walt’s Train Shop, asked the council to create a 30-minute loading zone near their stores on Pitts Street in order to accommodate inventory deliveries. A 30-minute debate erupted, causing the council to table the motion into order to more fully explore their options.
Tensions continued to rise the following week.
“There’s always been a parking problem.” said Dennison. “Now, it’s (gotten worse) because we don’t have the parking space for the number of new vehicles.
“The problem isn’t everywhere and it isn’t everybody,” Dennison continued. “It’s a few issues throughout the town. It’s my feeling and my opinion that it’s the merchants and the store owners, parking in retail streets, even in front of their own businesses.”
Dennison, who moved his business to Pitts Street three years ago, complained about the “deliberate” actions of a select few, including on Pitts Street, where parking is marked for two-hour limits.
“I have pictures of some of those people lining up on the street all day,” he said. “So the problem here is a bit more severe than it is in other places, but I also notice it on other streets where merchants park very closely to their store instead of making some effort to respect the other merchants in town.”
Dennison added that the town doesn’t offer adequate parking for merchants. A few downtown businesses, including Taylor Bank, allow merchants to use their parking lot. In his case, Dennison is able to walk to work.
“When we get the tourists coming in they need all the space they can find,” he said. “I think there has to be some effort by those people who deliberately and with vengeance park where they do. I don’t think there’s just one answer, but if people don’t think there are any parking issues they have their head in the sand.
“I do believe if the Chamber of Commerce were to encourage (cooperation) among their members that would probably help,” Dennison continued. “I don’t know if just a single spot on either side of the street would make a difference. It would be much better if the merchants themselves did it so we didn’t have to go to the town. But it’s an attitude problem.”
One option the council discussed was making Pitts Street one-way, headed east. Dennison favored the move.
“One whole side of the street could become an ‘unloading zone.’ I think one-way on Pitts Street would work, but before we do that we have to stop this,” he said, referring to merchant abuse of the two-hour parking laws.
Toni Stuart, owner of Stuart’s Antiques, admitted she occasionally parked in front of her store.
“I do it because I’ve been suffering from a bulging disk and I can hardly walk and I can’t carry stuff,” she said. “I have stuff I have to unload every day, and so I park here, but I don’t mind during the summer months parking in the back. That’s what I’ve been doing.
“From October through June I think it’s ridiculous not just to leave it, but during the busy summer months I think it would be appropriate to just ask me.”
Stuart, who has been in the same location for 26 years, was against the proposed loading zones, saying delivery trucks frequently knocked down the awning over her store.
“It’s happened about 10 times now,” she said.
She would, however, support making Pitts Street one-way.
“It’s too narrow,” she said. “My little car doesn’t hurt it at all, but a big truck would park here, because they do it now.
Outten, who opened his Pitts Street location two years ago, blamed much of the parking problem on “apartment dwellers.”
“They live right upstairs and they park their everyday,” he said. “We don’t want to be a town that gives tickets to everybody, but I think if they give two or three warnings and they still see people doing it they should have the authority to give a ticket.”
Outten said the two-hour parking spaces, debated during the council meeting as being outdated, were meant to prevent residents from parking in spaces intended for customers. He believes the town is best equipped to handle Berlin’s parking woes.
“I don’t think the Merchant’s Association is the vehicle for that,” he said. “I think the town needs to handle it. If it gets out of hand – which it’s slowly but surely getting to that point – they have got to be the ones. Nobody is going to self-police. I’ve never seen it work anywhere.
“When we approached the town when we opened that building they were supposed to paint (the street) red and make it a loading zone,” Outten continued. “We definitely need a loading zone. We have 150 lots in one store and 100 in the other, and there’s nowhere to load.”