As residents in the center of town without private parking spaces, we fall through a very inconvenient and very expensive crack here in Doylestown. While people who live a block away from us have private parking spaces while also having access to ‘residential parking permits’, we have extremely limited options for free parking in the town where we live, shop, work, vote and pay taxes. I’m sure that many of you, like me, have spent hundreds of dollars on tickets in our time here in the center of town because we didn’t get to the meter on time, misread a parking restriction, or parked in a ‘residential’ zone (although there was ample parking in those areas). 

Our options at the moment are to purchase permits for yellow banded meters, which have just been increased to $72 for a 6 month permit ($144 for a household with one car, $288 for 2 cars, etc), pay all day for the meter, which has been increased to an hour for $1.75, find the very limited free parking, which is often several blocks from our homes, or cross your fingers and hope that you don’t get a ticket if you park on a residential street. As someone who has had to choose that last option a few times, I can tell you that, for parking on a street with ample parking and where most residents have off street parking, the fee is $50.

With major construction in town, increased parking rates, rising rental costs, and parking complications due to snow in the winter and town-wide events in the summer, this is something that needs to be addressed now

Here’s what I propose:

Residents who live in the center of town who currently do not qualify for residential parking passes should be offered free parking at the yellow-banded meters. They should also be eligible for residential parking passes for the zones that are labeled as such. 

Easy Peasy. 

If you agree with me, please sign this petition.