A new parking meter on 2nd Street in downtown Harrisburg.
At the first meeting of Harrisburg’s parking advisory committee, last February, the public came, and the public commented, but business didn’t get done.
So when committee members assemble for the second time, tomorrow, Oct. 9, it will be for a private meeting.
The fact was acknowledged yesterday by Dave Black, CEO of the Capital Region Economic Development Corporation, or CREDC, the designated representative of the state financing agency involved in the long-term lease of the city’s parking assets last fall.
“It’s a chance for the parties to have some open dialogue,” Black said of the closed meeting. “It’s sometimes easier to have a frank discussion without the media or the public there.”
At the advisory committee’s first meeting, which took place Feb. 18 in a second-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza hotel, 16 members of the public spoke at the microphone, almost universally complaining about the negative impact of increased meter rates and hours.
One of them was Ashia Richardson, the owner of the Hair at the Square salon in Strawberry Square, who said she had seen a drop in clientele since the new rates and hours were put into effect. “The cost of service now includes $15 to park,” she said. “Our clients aren’t coming because they simply can’t afford parking.”
Another was Walter David Prediger, a deacon at Salem United Church of Christ at the corner of Chestnut and S. 3rd Street, who expressed concern about the cost of Saturday parking for volunteers in his church’s clothing giveaway.
Black said Tuesday that, as a result of the lengthy public comments, committee members barely had time for discussion. “The first meeting became about the parking system, and it’s really about the overall deal,” he said.
The advisory committee was formed under the terms of one of several agreements involved in the parking lease, a key component of the state-sponsored plan to eliminate around $490 million in debt obligations of the capital city.
The official statement for the bonds that financed the lease, dated Dec. 24, 2013, describes the committee as “a forum for communication and interaction among the parties with interests in the operation of the Parking System” and “a vehicle for customer and public input with respect to the operation of the system.”
An attached schedule describing the committee’s governance, which requires that the committee meet at least twice per year, makes no provision for public access to meetings. A separate section of the agreement, however, requires that “public complaints, concerns and suggestions” regarding the parking system be referred to the advisory committee “for advisory input and public comment.”
Black said Tuesday that, in his opinion, the decision to hold the second meeting in private, which he said was made by John Gass, the representative of the asset manager, PK Harris Advisors, Inc., was “probably appropriate.”
Not all parties are pleased with the closed nature of the committee’s second meeting, however. Asked about the decision in an email Wednesday, Mayor Eric Papenfuse replied with a brief statement.
“I believe the meeting of the parking advisory committee should be open,” the mayor wrote. “I will take this issue up with members of the board when they meet tomorrow.”
In an email Wednesday afternoon, Gass, after acknowledging the meeting was not open to the public or members of the press, said he would provide a summary of the meeting next week and would also “address the public/private meeting question” then.
In addition to PK Harris, an affiliate of Trimont Real Estate, the parties represented on the advisory committee are: Standard Parking, the system’s new operator; CREDC on behalf of the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority, which issued $286 million in tax-exempt bonds to finance the lease; the state Department of General Services, which signed a long-term lease of garage spaces for state workers; the Harrisburg Parking Authority; and the Dauphin County commissioners and Assured Guaranty, who each provided additional security for the bonds.
Bruce Weber, the city’s budget and finance director, is Mayor Papenfuse’s representative on the committee, and City Council President Wanda Williams also has a seat as council’s representative.
At the Feb. 18 meeting, Weber moved to add two seats to the committee, one to represent local residents and another to represent downtown businesses. The motion was not seconded, however, and did not come to a vote.
This story has been updated with comments from John Gass.
