A 15-minute limit parking sign in Harrisburg, similar to the one removed in front of Wake and Bake
A local business owner is seeking answers about why a 15-minute parking sign was installed in front of her business in early July, and then removed just weeks later.
“I kept asking, like, ‘Why is it coming down? Why is it coming down?’” said Elle Daniels, co-owner of Wake and Bake Cafe in downtown Harrisburg.
“Free Parking: 15 Minute Limit,” the sign read.
Daniels, who opened Wake and Bake in July 2025, said she received the sign after speaking with Harrisburg officials at the city engineer’s office.
It was also her contact at the city who informed her the sign would be taken down just weeks later. But when Daniels asked for the rationale, she said she got multiple answers.
“They first told me that it was meant to be a 15-minute loading zone only,” Daniels said.
But when she then asked her city contact for a loading zone—something that would be helpful to her personally for cafe inventory—the request was denied. The denial came from Metropolis, she said, the company that began managing the city’s parking system in 2024 after acquiring SP+. It operates locally under the name “Park Harrisburg.”
“Then they told me that the 15-minute parking zones were only for businesses that had existed before Metropolis took over,” Daniels said. “And then the third reason was that we didn’t pay for it.”
A signless post outside Wake and Bake Cafe
Both Metropolis and city officials denied approving the sign’s installation in communications with TheBurg.
Antonio Megna, Harrisburg’s business administrator, said the city has not recommended or approved any 15-minute signs in 2026.
“If the business received an approval, it was likely from Metropolis,” Megna said.
Meanwhile, John Gass, who manages Park Harrisburg’s assets for Metropolis, said Park Harrisburg was not contacted about “the new loading spaces” in front of Wake and Bake and that all new loading zones must get approval. The “Free Parking: 15 Minute Limit” sign did not include the words “loading zone.”
“Regardless,” Gass continued, alluding to the financial state of the parking system, “Park Harrisburg is not in a position to approve any new loading zones due to financial considerations, so the new loading zone should never have been installed.”
An audit of Park Harrisburg stated it had a net $1.5 million budget shortfall for operating income in 2025.
In regard to the removal of Wake and Bake’s free 15-minute sign, Gass said 22 loading zones exist in downtown Harrisburg that qualify for such parking.
“There is an existing loading zone approximately 100 feet from Wake and Bake on Pine Street,” Gass said. The distance equates to roughly a third of a football field.
Daniels, however, prefers to deliver inventory in front of her shop. But in Wake and Bake’s last year of business, she said she’s received more than $1,000 in parking tickets doing so.
“It’s not fair that we can’t even have a loading zone right here because we have to load and unload so often,” Daniels said.
Zahira Amador, owner of J&Z Mexican Cuisine, outside her business
More parking, more business
While Wake and Bake’s 15-minute parking sign is now gone, its fleeting existence gave Daniels a taste of what more accessible parking could do for her downtown business.
While the sign was up, sales increased, she said.
The sign, which protected roughly two parking spots, offered cafe customers respite from paying a $5/hour downtown parking and transaction fees. For customers darting in and out for pickups, it also meant they didn’t have to take their chances on a $30 ticket if they didn’t stop to use Park Harrisburg’s system.
“People feel so much more comfortable parking in a 15-minute parking zone,” Daniels said.
Wake and Bake Cafe
After posting her story online, Daniels also heard from two other small business owners in the city, who complained that 15-minute signs in front of their businesses had been removed. These removals have impacted their businesses as well.
Zahira Amador, owner of J&Z Mexican Cuisine, told TheBurg that, when she opened her restaurant in 2024, there was a 30-minute parking sign nearby. Last summer, it was replaced with a 15-minute sign, she said, which itself was removed without warning earlier this month.
She added that there is no convenient free parking for customers for her restaurant, located at Market and Cameron streets. Many customers pick up orders, “using flashing lights”, she said. Some don’t understand the parking system, as Text to Park and the Park Mobile app can be confusing.
“Not everybody knows how to use an app nowadays, especially Spanish people or old persons,” she said. “They have to walk around or drive around the city, find a meter, pay, and then come and park at my restaurant, which I laugh at because nobody’s gonna do that.”
She lamented that often her customers receive tickets, “so they gotta spend money here plus pay $30 for the tickets that they are receiving while they’re eating here.”
According to Gass, Metropolis was not aware of how or when the sign, which he referred to as a “Loading Zone” sign, was removed at J&Z.
The Midtown Juice Lab
Bryanna Dixon, co-owner of Midtown Juice Lab, also told TheBurg her sign was removed without notice by Metropolis.
The N. 3rd Street business, which opened in 2022, initially had a 15-minute free parking sign out front, according to Dixon. She said that, around 2024, it was removed without warning—something she only noticed when a customer complained about a ticket.
“Our customers were so used to this 15-minute parking,” Dixon said. “We have a lot of loyal customers. It became such a habit for someone to pull up real quick and run in that they didn’t even notice it was gone.”
At the Juice Lab, Gass indicated that this spot may have been removed when 15-minute free parking periods ceased when Park Mobile and Text to Pay options were introduced.
“In 2014, 88 additional meters were installed in Midtown and a free 15-minute parking period was offered initially when payment was made at the new multi-space meters,” Gass said. “The 15- minute free parking period was stopped when Park Mobile and Text to Pay were added to the system payment options.”
According to a June 2026 report, Metropolis oversees at least 1,260 metered parking spaces in the city.
A “Text to Pay” sign nearby Wake and Bake Cafe
The state of Harrisburg parking
In response to questions about how 15-minute parking sign installations and removals work, Megna, Harrisburg’s business administrator, explained that many existing short-term parking signs are from the city’s original agreement with the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority (PEDFA).
The deal, made in 2013, leased Harrisburg’s parking system (parking garages, lots and street meters) to PEDFA; in exchange, the state authority issued roughly $270 million in bonds to the city to help it pay off incinerator debts.
The 40-year parking lease extends through Dec. 31, 2053.
This is the lease currently managed by Metropolis.
As such, Megna said, Metropolis makes the ultimate decision about approval of all signs if they are first approved by the city.
“The current process is that we review the ask for compliance with our guidelines and then, assuming we approve it, we send it over to Metropolis,” Megna explained.
The city official indicated the city has no authority under the lease.
“Metropolis, through their contract with PEDFA, ha[s] full authority over the usage of those signs, including approval and removal of signs,” he added.
Speaking on behalf of PEDFA, which exists under the Department of Community and Economic Development, a DCED spokesperson said the city retains responsibility for physically installing the signage.
The contract that links PEDFA and Metropolis governs “the management and operation of the parking system, not the procedures for physically installing or removing loading zone signs,” Kat Breitmayer, DCED press secretary, added.
For Daniels, the experience with her sign being given, and then taken away, has made her think business owners, if not customers, should have some sort of pass if they’re doing work in the city.
She remains confused, overall, by the situation.
“I don’t really understand how they were able to put the sign up and then take it down,” Daniels said.
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