Pittsburgh City Council weighs changes to parking code

Some Pittsburgh residents are skeptical of proposed changes to the city’s parking code that they say would do more harm than good.

The proposed amendments would apply to the city’s 39 residential parking permit areas, most of which are near commercial areas, universities or hospitals. While officials say the amendments are intended to ensure that residents can park near their homes, some residents are worried the proposed changes could have the opposite effect.

Among the proposed changes, introduced to City Council in early October, people providing certain services would be able to get special parking permits for residential parking permit areas. Nonresident permits would be issued to people administering medical care or end-of-life care, contractors performing work permitted by the city, those providing daytime childcare and to landlords.

Another amendment would give drivers without a special permit an option to pay a meter to park for a limited time in the residential parking permit areas. Currently, people can park for a limited time without paying.

Councilman Bobby Wilson has said the proposed legislation was spurred by residents living in residential parking permit areas who have complained that it is difficult to manage babysitters, contractors and others who need to park on their streets. Some also have complained that people who don’t live on their streets take advantage of the free grace period in which they are allowed to park there, he said.

“This is coming from residents who pay into the program,” Wilson said.

Janet Squires, president of the Schenley Farms Civic Association, said she spoke with other neighbors from their Oakland neighborhood about the proposal.

“The initial reaction was universally negative,” Squires said of the proposed amendments during a public hearing last week. “Our streets are already so heavily parked. There’s obvious concern that it will take up spots from our residents.”

Phyllis Didiano of the Beechview Area Concerned Citizens group said she was concerned that granting nonresidential parking permits could force residents out of parking spots.

“I’m not very confident about the nonresident parking, that it will be equitable, especially for the residents,” she said.

Councilman Deb Gross, however, said that the nonresidential permits would “reduce stress and strain on households that have been trying to juggle visitor passes.”

Despite some public pushback, Gross said, “I do hear a lot of positive feedback, and I think it’s definitely time to try something because this program has been pretty static for 40 years, while the amount of city that’s covered by it has grown and grown,” Gross said.