Newport business owners along Monmouth Street attended the most recent commission meeting to express concerns about the meterless parking pilot.
In January, the Newport Police Department started exploring a pilot program with Passport Parking. The app-based parking portion of the program allows users to find, reserve, and pay for parking directly from their phones.
At the July 21 Newport Commission meeting, business owners told the city they thought the app-based parking would deter customers from their businesses.
Wendy Braun, co-owner of The Baker’s Table and Monmouth St. Mercantile, spoke at the meeting. She said that before the pilot program, the parking system helped encourage customers to visit both the restaurant and the mercantile, primarily due to the ease of parking.
“When you add the parking app in, I’m worried that some of my patrons, who don’t do so well with technology for various reasons, will just pass me by, and we’re just paying our bills each month,” Braun said.
Braun said she sees the app as a disparity and foresees people driving by because they don’t want to go through the hassle of using it.
Newport Police Chief Chris Fangman said the pilot has been placed in the 800 block of Monmouth Street because the department received the most complaints, whether from businesses or residents.
He also stated that the annual cost of maintaining meters is approximately $10,000. Fangman said what sparked the idea of meterless parking was a $2,000-$4,000 battery bill in front of him and a whole bunch of malfunctioning meters.
“We did the pilot program north of Sixth Street. It’s been very, very successful,” he said. “To this day, the 800 block has been successful. There’s going to be people that disagree with me.”
Fangman said that anyone who brings a ticket to the department knows they are quick to forgive.
“I assure you, and please scream it from the rooftops to your patrons, they will not be affected at all if they get a ticket,” Fangman said. “Please just let us know. We do not use parking as a monetary kind of thing in Newport; it’s simply to move the traffic.”
The department will ticket third- or fourth-time offenders. Fangman said that since they implemented the pilot on the 800 block of Monmouth, they have only issued 12 tickets, and all were complaint-based.
Fangman said he has heard rumors that the city is considering a two-hour parking policy. He said they would never do that as they don’t have the manpower for it.
Some business owners expressed concern about vendor parking. Braun asked the city to reserve a spot for loading and unloading at each of the private businesses.
Fangman said the department would not be issuing tickets to vendors or deliveries to businesses.
Strong’s Brick Oven Pizzeria owner Cindy Hahn said the pizza parlor moved from 336 Monmouth to 708 Monmouth (formerly JerZees Pub) because their former location had zero parking. Now she fears that the app-based parking will deter people from visiting the restaurant. She also stated concerns about where her now 40 employees would park and if they would have to pay.
“I understand what you’re saying, you’re redeeming the money back for their tickets,” Hahn said. “We have a lot of guests who come into the restaurant. They’re not going to take the time to want to do that, and then they won’t be repeat customers.”
Newport City Manager John Hayden said part of the reason the police department started with the 800 block of Monmouth is to implement block-by-block phases and assess what works and what doesn’t.
“I think the approach that we’ve done is to start at one block, let’s see how this works, let’s see the good and the bad, and evaluate, and we won’t go on to the next block until we feel like we’ve worked out some of the bugs there,” Hayden said.
Fangman said a good way to track vehicles being left in front of businesses for days is through the app.
“I just want to communicate that we’ve been discussing parking on Monmouth Street since the beginning of Monmouth Street, and it’s not easy, and our team has been connecting and have a thoughtful approach,” Newport Mayor Tom Guidugli Jr. said.
