Monday, March 25, 2013
City officials looking into complaints that people of a certain height have trouble reaching meters.
Easton officials are looking at whether they need to lower the city's parking meters. Not the cost of the meters, mind you. You'll still pay a dollar an hour. Instead, the city could physically lower some of its new credit card meters after complaints that some of them are too high for some people to reach. Downtown business owner Faith Proctor spotted three of those drivers Monday morning outside her Third Street store, standing on their tiptoes and struggling for several minutes to figure out how the meters worked. "One of them was laughing, it was so ludicrous," said Proctor, who owns Madame Mim's. "The other one looked like she wanted to kick the thing." The topic was a popular one last week on the Easton, Pennsylvania Facebook group…
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Easton gives drivers the chance to pay $5 less if they pay early.
Would you pay a parking ticket any quicker if you knew a fast payment would save you $5? City officials are hoping a new ordiance will get you thinking that way. Approved last week by City Council, the ordinance lets drivers pay $15 instead of $20, provided they make their payment within 24 hours of when they get the ticket, or by 4 p.m. the next business day. The ordinance comes at a time when Easton is dealing with a number of parking-related changes. The city voted last year to raise the rates at its meters, and to change its parking hours. With that vote came the purchase of new credit card meters, which are due to be installed over the next several weeks. And at the same meeting where council approved the new discount, it also …
Saturday, January 26, 2013
An oridinance before City Council would give drivers a chance to pay $5 less if they pay tickets the same day they get them.
Getting a parking ticket in Easton can be pretty expensive if you don't pay it right away. (I'm speaking from experience here.) But what if you could pay slightly less money by paying your ticket soon after you get it? An ordinance before City Council would allow you to do just that. Introduced Wednesday night by Councilman Jeffrey Warren, the ordinance lets drivers pay $15 instead of $20, provided they make their payment within 24 hours of when they get the ticket, or by 4 p.m. the next business day. The ordinance comes at a time when Easton is dealing with a number of parking-related changes. The city voted last year to raise the rates at its meters, and to change its parking hours. With that vote came the purchase of new credit card …
Monday, November 12, 2012
The city will begin installing new credit card meters today. Will you use them?
Sometime today, the city of Easton is expected to install new parking meters that take credit cards. The meters will be along Seventh Street between Washington and Walnut streets, as well as along Washington Street outside the Northampton County Courthouse. The meters will cost $1 per hour, and require a $1 minimum purchase when you're using a credit card. (If you want to use quarters, the meters accept them as well, charging 25 cents for every 15 minutes.) Hours on the meters will remain the same: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with a 10-hour limit. Police want to know what residents think of the meters. To give your feedback, contact Lt. Matthew Lohenitz at 610-250-6664, or mlohenitz@easton-pa.gov. We'd like to hear your …
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Credit card meters are coming to Easton. What do you think?
Mayor Sal Panto says it's his number one complaint about parking in Easton: meters that only take quarters. That's going to change next year, when the city installs new parking meters that can take credit cards. It's part of a larger set of changes to Easton's parking system proposed in the 2013 budget. The city would also raise the cost of downtown meters from 50 to 75 cents an hour, extend the parking enforcement hours until 8 p.m., and begin enforcing parking at some downtown meters on Sundays. What do you think? Are you happy with the idea of credit card meters? Unhappy with everything? Tell us in the comments, and take our poll.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
City council directs Easton administration to create 17 new meters for Ferry Street.
- GOVERNMENT
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Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Easton will add 17 new parking meters to Ferry Street in the neighborhood around Northampton County Prison. City council's public safety committee on Tuesday night told the city administration to put together an ordinance that would create those metered spaces, according to the Express-Times. Meanwhile, the paper reports that resident Terrance Miller has proposed a plan for the revenue those meters would generate. He suggested hiring a part-time employee to coordinate a program that would have work-release prisoners clean the neighborhood. Miller estimated the meters would generate a little under $1,400 a month. Do you like the idea of added meters to the neighborhood? Take our poll, or tell us how you feel in the comments.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The issue of how to best serve everyone when it comes to metered street parking is proving to be a difficult one.
Easton business owners and residents like the idea of parking meters that take credit cards. What they don't like: changing the meter-enforcement hours, enforcing meters on Sunday, and most of the other changes mentioned in the city's recent parking study. That's according to a survey on parking issues discussed Tuesday evening at the city's second public forum on the parking study by Desman and Associates. Balancing the varying needs of the city, businesses and residents when it comes to metered street parking is proving to be a thorny issue, and there's still not a lot of consensus on the issues. While most of the 15 or so members of the public seemed in favor of reducing rates at the city's parking garage to encourage more people to …
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Easton City Hall
1 S 3rd St, Easton, PA
/articles/still-no-agreement-reached-on-potential-parking-changes
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Thursday, March 15, 2012
Raising meter rates would encourage more motorists to use the city parking deck, consultants say.
The days of 50-cent-an-hour metered parking, free street parking on Sundays and complimentary parking for city employees may be numbered . Those things could all go away if Easton City Council acts on the recommendations in a parking study by Desman and Associates. The company is also urging the city to change parking meter hours of operation to 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays from the current 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with additional hours of noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays, along with raising the rate to as much as $1 per hour in prime Downtown areas. "What we'd like to do is encourage more use of the Pine Street garage," Desman's Greg Shumate told city council Wednesday. "We think the time has come to implement those changes immediately…
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-75.20912
Easton City Hall
1 S 3rd St, Easton, PA
/articles/easton-parking-study-recommends-rate-hike
873517
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Discussions of Easton's parking situation always seem to involve comparisons to Bethlehem.
Parking is always a hot issue in any city, and metro areas in the Lehigh Valley are no exception. As Easton undergoes a parking study and considers new parking management strategies, a number of people have made a number of comparisons with the next closest city, Bethlehem. So how do the two cities stack up? Read on for our fact-checked comparison of parking in the two cities... Metered Parking and Rates In Bethlehem, the current rate for metered street parking is 50 cents per hour, and the meters run from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Parking time limits vary at metered parking in Bethlehem, but most on-street parking is between 2 to 10 hours. However, the city is considering changing its rates for meters and garages. In Easton, the current rate is 50…
Jimmy Madden
11:31 pm on Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Where did I offend you Mr.Stature? To be honest I could care less. I never pay a meter due to the fact I am car free. Yes that is right I ride my bicycle like you drive a car. My parking is free thanks to local artist ,Third Street Alliance and the city of Easton. I am not sure if I will be verifying or disputing much of anything. What I will do is measure a few of the new meters and give you … more ›