SALEM — Diners at the city's downtown restaurants often come for the food, drink and ambience — and leave with an unexpected lesson in time management.
"Customers will be setting their cell phones to remind them to run out and feed the meter," said Steve Feldmann, the owner of Gulu-Gulu Cafe on Essex Street. "Half the time, the parking lady is already out there waiting for them."
Other downtown patrons can find themselves unwilling participants in an episode of "Beat the Clock" — perform a laundry list of errands, grab a quick bite to eat and scamper back to your car, all before it's tagged with that shameful orange ticket.
"They're pretty vigilant about making sure that if you're two minutes over, you're done," Feldmann said of the city's parking enforcers. "They snag you pretty quickly."
Hoping to give diners more time for a leisurely meal and ease the lives of those whose errands take longer than expected, the mayor has proposed downtown parking changes.
Under the plan, parking spaces with a one-hour time limit would be changed to two-hour spots.
But they would also be more expensive — the old one-hour spaces would cost 50 cents an hour, while the current two-hour spaces would remain unchanged at 25 cents an hour.
"If you're going to come downtown to eat or run errands, you routinely run over an hour," said Mayor Kim Driscoll.
Right now, spaces with one-hour limits are located on Essex, Washington and Front streets. Thirty-minute parking would remain unchanged.
Feldman, the Gulu-Gulu owner, fully backs the plan.
"It makes downtown a much easier place to go and shop and hang out when people don't have to worry about cars being ticketed," he said.
Others, however, are more cautious.
Jeff McKee, the owner of The Barking Cat, a pet shop on Essex Street, has noticed the city's parking officers seem to be more lenient toward drivers who keep feeding the meter beyond the two-hour limit.
"I wonder if folks are going to end up using them as all-day meters and plug the meter," said McKee.
Bob Jackson, the owner of a Dunkin' Donuts set to open at the old Court House Deli on Washington Street, said he doesn't expect the parking changes to affect his business, even though his is the kind of business where customers typically spend only a short time inside.
"It's more geared for the walk-up," Jackson said. "People from the train station and the courthouse. I don't really think it'll have much effect on us."
City councilors will hold a meeting on the mayor's proposal Wednesday night, where they're expected to hear from business owners and a representative from the Salem Chamber of Commerce.
"I'm just going to see where the meeting goes and hear what downtown people have to say about it," said Councilor-at-large Arthur Sargent, whose City Council subcommittee will study the plan.
Meanwhile, Driscoll also hopes the city can do more to convince those parking for the day — including downtown workers — to stop feeding meters and use longterm parking areas, like the city's two garages. Passes to the garages and the Church Street lot are available for $60 a month — less than it would cost to keep feeding those one-hour meters.
"We'd like to think we have a space for everyone that comes downtown," Driscoll said.
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at ccassidy@salemnews.com.
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