How to improve parking dilemma in Red Bank
Your Turn
One of the consistently disregarded suggestions for improving the parking situation (and retail business) in Red Bank is that the town should build a parking garage on the current White Street lot. One possibility that must be considered is that the powers-that-might-be are correct, and it might not be the best decision to build that parking garage. The fact is that no one really knows what the success would be of building the suggested garage. So, let's think about a solution that does not involve the building of a garage. We want to find a solution that, most importantly, keeps shoppers coming to Red Bank and also continues to produce parking revenue.

In order to come up with a solution, we first need to examine exactly what might be the problem. I had a conversation with a "former" Red Bank shopper not long ago that may capture the essence of what shoppers — and other business people — don't like about coming to Red Bank. This person said, "I used to come into Red Bank several times a month to shop, but it became too much of a burden. Sometimes, you forget the meter and that is bad enough in terms of receiving an outrageous $39 parking ticket, but God forbid you misplace or forget the ticket and then the penalty almost requires a mortgage to pay it. It's just not worth it anymore." So, you come into town for a few things. One thing leads to another, and you forget about feeding the meter and find a $39 kiss from the town on your window when you finally return to the car. Wouldn't it have been great to have returned to the car and paid only for the time used whether it was one hour or six hours (like it would be if you had parked in a parking garage)?

So what might this mean in terms of the real problem? I don't really think that most shoppers mind paying for parking (although the convenience of free parking at The Grove is a very great draw). In my view, the real reason behind the parking issue in Red Bank (or any other retail area) is inconvenience. In Red Bank, it is inconvenient because there are multiple parking areas, and the Red Bank shopper is forced to search for an available space that might be close to their intended destination (and for most people, that takes precious time in their already busy day). Another inconvenience is that shoppers hate the pain of getting $39 parking ticket when they simply forgot about the time (and for the store owner, it is seeing clients worrying about that possible ticket and leaving their store, rather than lingering and continuing to shop).

So, we are left with several important questions. The first is whether or not we can overcome those feelings of "inconvenience" when someone wants to do business in Red Bank. The second is determining whether or not a parking garage will really make any difference. I believe there is a way to determine both of these questions — without building a parking garage (and I wish I could claim this idea for myself, but I heard it on the streets of Red Bank from several retailers, and it just made so much sense).

The reasonable solution is to make the existing White Street parking lot an attended parking lot between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. every day except Saturday and Sunday (now wisely declared by our municipal leaders as "free parking"). It is possible that existing parking staff could run the attended lot using a time stamp/ticket machine which would then let people pay for parking according to their actual time used.

Under this plan, when someone comes into town, they now have several major options:

1) They can buy the parking card now available through the parking authority and park at any meter available

2) They can hunt the multiple lots around town for metered parking and drop coins into the meter, or

3) They can come to the attended White Street lot and punch in on a "pay as time is used" basis.

For those who choose option number three, when they return (be it one hour or eight hours later), they pay only for the time actually used. They can feel comfortable staying as long as they wish with no threat of penalty. They have eliminated the agony of a potential ticket, they don't need to worry about feeding the meter, and they are encouraged to take their time and explore our wonderful town of Red Bank.

So, what are the benefits of such a plan:

1) The most obvious benefit is that we will provide to our highly valued (and increasingly scarce) retail customers, a "convenience" service that will make them feel much more comfortable shopping in Red Bank, and in doing so we can stem the tide of those who no longer feel good about regularly coming to Red Bank because it has become an avoidable hassle.

2) As a follow-up to the wonderful first step of rescinding parking fees on weekends, the municipal officials can continue to demonstrate foresight and a commitment to the survival of the retail/business community. (Some might think the use of the word "survival" is too harsh; however, more than 30 retail vacancies in Red Bank today says to me that survival may not be a harsh enough word.)

3) While there will be some logistical issues regarding adjacent properties and businesses, the job of creating an attended lot in the way suggested will be much simpler and much more cost-effective when compared to building a parking garage. Additionally, it also allows for a live test of the value of attended centralized parking. This experience will go a long way in providing data to prove or disprove the value of a parking garage for center Red Bank.

4) Parking revenue will be maintained or perhaps increased because a greater number of people are coming to Red Bank and staying longer. This plan might even provide the opportunity to reconsider free Saturday/Sunday parking fees for the White Street lot. If fees were reinstated at White Street, they could remain free on weekends at the other town lots as an incentive to get more people to use them. At some point, it might even be possible to extend the hours of attended parking at the White Street lot.

5) This can be an imaginative way for the municipal government to respond to the retail community's call for help in very tough times. They are, after all, the segment of the community that pays more than 40 percent of Red Bank tax revenues. This idea represents a continuation of the initiative Mayor Menna began when he declared free weekend parking several months ago.

I hope this suggestion helps us to move forward on returning Red Bank to its former "hot spot" status.

Bill Friedel is a Red Bank property owner.