Over the summer, Plymouth installed parking meters on High Street, Langdon Street and Merrill Street with the intent of giving the college students alternative places to park, thus opening up downtown for shoppers. The plan was to keep the meters at 25 cents an hour, like the meters on Main Street, so the cost would not be unbearable for students to pay when parking around Plymouth.
When it came time to put the plan into effect at the Plymouth selectmen’s meeting over the summer with no student representation, the decision was made to charge one dollar per hour as opposed to the 25 cents on Main Street. Precedent for this action came from UNH and Keene State, where parking prices are similar. The reality is that it costs more to park one day on High Street or Langdon Street than it does to park a day at the Manchester Airport. After some complaints, the Plymouth selectmen decided to re-evaluate their decision 60-90 days after their installation, which would be in November or December.
Several things will be considered when they discuss the subject of the parking meters. The first is that the town isn’t pulling in the revenue it needs from the parking meters. The revenue doesn’t actually come from the meters themselves, but instead from ticketing people parked at the meters. Nobody is parking at the meters by campus because it only costs a dollar per hour downtown.
They will also be looking at the vandalism of the parking meters. Several of the meters have been pulled from the ground, smashed and stolen. Dan Fornash, a member of the parking committee, has asked the student body to not vandalize the parking meters because it is only hurting us in the long run and the issue will be resolved soon enough.
“I maintain the belief that the parking meters shall be reduced in cost, to what level I am not entirely sure,” said Fornash. “I do hope it is lowered to the 25 cents for the hour so the meters serve the town as well as the University, thus achieving maximum benefits. The overall student co-operation around this issue is making this goal increasingly possible.”