SALEM — City business leaders bundled up in winter coats and braved the early morning cold yesterday to collect signatures from commuters for a new parking garage at the Salem train depot.
The petition drive tapped into the frustration of North Shore residents who have waited years for more parking at a station that the MBTA says is the busiest in the commuter rail system.
"If you get here after 7:45 a.m. ... there's no place to park," said Nicole Parsons, 28, of Salem.
"This is a major terminus," said Jeane Noriega, 39, of Salem. "A lot of people come here from other places. ... It makes sense to have a garage."
Several riders mentioned that when the station is full, commuters have to park along Bridge Street or even farther away. That can get tricky, one woman said, when going home at night.
"People have to walk like a half-mile in the dark," said Danielle Hanrahan of Salem. "It's dangerous at night."
Some commuters who signed the petitions not only were shivering in the cold, but were steaming over a $2 parking fee increase the MBTA imposed just days ago, doubling the normal rate.
"It's outrageous, it's ridiculous," said Sheila Lawler, 58, of Salem. "The MBTA can't take care of its own finances, so they stick it to the little guy again."
As a result of the hike, the lot has filled up more slowly on recent days, several commuters said.
Mayor Kim Driscoll and the Salem Partnership, a city-business lobby, collected close to 1,000 signatures between 6 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. yesterday for the proposed 1,000-car garage.
The mayor said she heard "overwhelming support" from an important constituency.
"I certainly think the commuters who actively use this station every day should have a voice in this," Driscoll said.
The petitions will be mailed individually to Gov. Deval Patrick and Congressman John Tierney, according to Patricia Zaido, executive director of The Salem Partnership.
Although the city is trying to land a private partner, the estimated $30 million project hinges on public financing.
A potential $21 million has been identified from money that state Rep. John Keenan of Salem put into a transportation bond bill, from federal funds and from an allocation for the new state courthouse being built on Federal Street.
Driscoll is pushing hard now because the state is expected to announce plans soon to provide more parking at a few commuter rail stations in Greater Boston. Massachusetts has until 2011 to meet a federal mandate to build 1,000 new parking spaces to offset the increased traffic and pollution from the Big Dig.
The mayor has formed a committee to explore a possible public-private partnership and to try to push Salem to the head of the long line of communities hoping for more train parking.
Plans for a new station have changed slightly, the mayor said late yesterday. Officials are now looking at a smaller building that would cost less to build but still provide close to the 1,000 spaces Salem officials want. It would be built on a site that would not include city property, the mayor said.
The 460-space parking lot along the North River consists of MBTA land and 123 spaces belonging to the city of Salem and near a freight line that runs to Peabody. It would be too complicated to try to work out issues with the freight line and still meet the state's 2011 deadline for constructing a new garage, Driscoll said.
"If we just focus on the T lot, it would be much more doable," she said.
The mayor's garage committee, which includes state and city officials, is scheduled to meet again next week.
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