The Reading Parking Authority announced Friday it will immediately discontinue street parking charges for all evening events at the Santander Arena and Santander Performing Arts Center.
Vehicles parked legally on the street outside the posted meter hours, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, will not be ticketed.
For Santander venue events before 6 p.m., meters will need to be fed by whatever means are shown on the meter until 6 p.m.
Special rates for street parking during events at the two venues began a year ago, Nathan Matz, executive director of the parking authority, said Friday in a phone call.
“Although well intended,” Matz said, “the on-street meter parking initiative was not financially beneficial.”
Enforcement also placed strains on city residents, visitors and the parking authority, he said.
Unhappy parkers
Before the change last year, Ernie Marshall and his wife, Kathy, often took advantage of the free street parking to attend events at the Performing Arts Center.
While parking for a concert two weeks ago, their first since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Maidencreek Township couple discovered that event rates applied.
There were four ways they could have paid: the Park Mobile cellphone app, Text2Park feature or QR code scanner or by calling the posted number.
“Well, hello, we didn’t have a smartphone to pay that way,” Ernie Marshall said in an email Friday morning.
Marshall said he and his wife did not think they would need their cellphone at the concert and left it at home.
“So I put some money under my windshield wiper for parking,” he said.
When they returned to their vehicle, the cash was still there along with a $45 parking ticket.
“We have been attending events in Reading regularly for well over 30 years,” Marshall, a Reading High School alumnus said. “We normally try to park in the same spot.”
Reached by phone Friday afternoon, he and his wife are pleased by the parking authority’s announcement and plan to continue parking on the street for future events.
9th Street meters
In another matter, the authority announced it will begin removing meters in the 100, 200 and 300 blocks of North Ninth Street.
There have been meters in the largely commercial first and 100 blocks of North Ninth Street for decades.
Those in the 200 and 300 blocks were added last year with the approval of City Council as part of an effort to extend the commercial core and alleviate parking problems, Matz said.
“The authority had received numerous complaints about the parking situation in the commercial core and on North Ninth Street,” he said.
An evaluation of the issue led to a multi-prong response that included adding meters to create turnover for businesses, Saturday meter enforcement and other measures, he said.
The additional meters proved unpopular with North Ninth Street residents.
About a year after the meters were installed, Mayor Eddie Moran reviewed the data with the parking authority and requested that they be removed from the 100, 200 and 300 blocks, Matz said.
The mayor did not respond to a request for comment.
Matz said the authority is still evaluating Saturday meter enforcement, which also began last year.
Since the measure was taken, the authority has received fewer complaints from business owners about parking availability on Saturdays, he said.
“The Reading Parking Authority is constantly assessing parking problems in the city,” Matz said, “and is trying to solve them with new and creative solutions.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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