The Pottsville Parking Authority is asking business owners, residents, customers and commuters for their opinions on the pros and cons of parking in the city.
"We really want to find out what everyone's perceptions of parking are in the downtown area. We want to know if people feel there's adequate parking, it's reasonable and the parking authority is in tune to the needs of the people who are coming downtown on a regular basis. The information generated will help us to determine what types of changes and improvements we need to make in the upcoming three to five years," Patrick J. Murphy, authority chairman, said Monday.
Hard copies of the survey are available at the authority's office at 1 S. Second St., Pottsville, but people can also do the survey online by visiting www.downtownpottsville.org and clicking the hot button for "Downtown Parking Survey." Survey takers have the option of listing their name or remaining anonymous, Murphy said.
"We want to collect all the results by February 28," Murphy said.
The authority is planning to tabulate results in March and have a report on them in April, Murphy said.
On Monday, Murphy told people on the street and neighboring business owners about it, including Peter F. Russo, co-owner of Roma Pizzeria at 116 W. Market St.
"We want to make sure the parking authority is doing a good job in making parking available," Murphy said.
Russo said he'd do the survey.
"My take on parking is it's always going to be a problem in the business district," Russo said.
If you have successful businesses downtown, there will always be a situation where customers will have trouble parking close to those businesses, Russo said.
"Everybody tries to park right outside to walk right in," Murphy said.
Ralph Thomas, owner of Thomas Piano Service, Schuylkill Haven, said Monday he has trouble with parking on the 100 block of West Market Street.
"If you park in here, you might have trouble getting out. Traffic at the red light can get backed up," Thomas said.
He parked on a side street when visiting downtown Monday.
"What's your feeling about the free one-hour parking we have on Centre Street?" Murphy asked.
"I haven't seen a problem with that. I don't park down there a whole lot, but I haven't seen a problem on Centre Street," Thomas said.
Murphy said the authority had done a survey previously, but could not remember when.
Amy S. Burkhart, executive director of the Pottsville Area Development Authority, which manages the parking authority, provided a summary of what the survey contains.
"The survey requests input regarding the public's evaluation of various criteria including: overall experience, availability, cost, impact on shopping, cleanliness of parking areas, public safety. Further business owners are asked where they and their employees park, if they make arrangements for customers and how parking impacts their business," Burkhart said Monday.
"We take our jobs as board members very seriously. It is our goal to help the overall development plan of the downtown area and knowing how people feel about and deal with parking in the area is essential to economic development initiatives," Murphy said.
The survey concerns parking in downtown Pottsville, which is Centre Street from Mauch Chunk to Nicholas streets, and Market Street from Centre Street to Sixth Street, Burkhart said.
"So it won't take into account football games up at the high school and things like that," Murphy said. "The Central Business District is the area in which the parking authority concentrates its efforts. It is clearly the most congested and as such requires parking regulations that will help with turnover of spaces, thus allowing for additional short-term parkers. The parking authority also takes into consideration the needs of long-term, monthly and daily parkers, and wants to ensure that there is sufficient long-term parking available," Murphy said.
Hard copies are also available at Murphy Jewelers, 115 W. Market St.; Towne Drugs, 17 S. Centre St.; and City Hall, 401 N. Centre St.
Completed surveys should be mailed to Pottsville Parking Authority, 1 South Second Street, 2nd Floor, Pottsville PA 17901.
"To have a copy of the survey mailed to you, please contact the Pottsville Parking Authority at 570-628-4647," Burkhart said.
PADCO does its own survey every five years in an effort to determine the strengths, weaknesses and threats to the downtown business district. The last time PADCO did such a survey was 2011, according to the newspaper's archives.