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As a student at John Bapst Memorial High School, located in the heart of the Broadway Historic District, I come face to face with the glaring issues of our city’s parking on a regular basis. First, surrounding John Bapst is a plethora of one- and two-hour parking spots that students are unable to utilize as the school days simply last longer than a couple of hours.
Typically, hourly parking is implemented in areas with retail stores to facilitate the flow of people coming in and out of those areas by inhibiting them from staying in one spot for an extended period of time. However, in several of the areas containing hourly parking, there is little business that warrants such restrictions. Examples where this phenomenon occurs are on Broadway, Somerset Street, French Street, and Penobscot Street, amongst others.
One may ask, why does hourly parking exist in these areas if they are comprised primarily of housing instead of retail centers? Where are workers, students, and visitors supposed to park if there is no long-term parking near their destination? Hourly parking scattered aimlessly throughout the city should be converted into long-term spots to improve the inconvenient parking situation.
Jack Mason
Orrington