Red Bank business owners worry Monmouth Street

Free parking on Monmouth Street south of Route 35 could disappear after wiring for parking pay stations, similar to those installed in borough parking lots last year, was installed as part of a recent streetscape project.

Mayor Pasquale Menna confirmed that the wiring has been installed, a move that would pave the way for pay stations. But a final decision would be up to the borough council, he said. Now, pay station locations are marked by gray pipes protruding from new sidewalks.

Shoppers and storekeepers say they fear the stations will be an inconvenience, and some questioned why customers should pay to park in a business district that’s not as busy as the heart of downtown on West Front and Broad Streets.

“My customers are here for five minutes or less; the big deal is having to walk down the street to a pay station, and possibly twice, if you forget the space number,” said Helen Davis, owner of Fins and Feathers pet store, who added she almost moved the business to Shrewsbury after learning of the possibility. “I would rather give them (the borough) $500 out of my own pocket — I think it will seriously be a big deal.”

Watch the video above to see another viewpoint on the pay stations.Loretta Daluise of Fair Haven was picking up her dog and said if pay stations were installed, she’d only come back to Fins and Feathers out of loyalty to the shop.“If it were just a store, I’d think twice, it’s hard enough to park in Red Bank,” she said.

Menna said the borough’s parking management system includes extending paid parking down Monmouth Street, an idea which was broached last year as a possible use for old parking meters replaced by pay stations in borough lots. Business owners interviewed said they’d prefer meters to parking guidance system, if forced to choose.

Pay station infrastructure was installed as part of the streetscape project financed by RiverCenter. Menna said the council public works committee made the decision with RiverCenter to also install better wiring to allow the business alliance to put up Christmas decorations and lights.Substandard wiring has prevented RiverCenter from extending decorations and lights to Monmouth Street, he said. That same wiring upgrade also will make it possible to install pay stations there.

Monmouth Street merchants interviewed said their stores aren’t considered destinations as much as those on West Front and Broad Streets, where customers park, eat and shop in multiple stores.“Broad Street is more of a ‘let’s park and shop’ (destination),” said Stewart Goldstein, owner of Monmouth Meats. “Here, it’s ‘let’s run in and grab something for dinner and go’.” It’s a hassle to have to go to the pay station and run in for a pound of ground beef. It’s a stupid move.”

Goldstein and Davis said they’d prefer individual parking meters, so at least their customers wouldn’t have to hunt for a pay station and walk back and forth with children and packages in tow.David Prown, owner of Prown’s Home Improvements, said pay stations would be terrible for his business.

“If you have to walk to the pay station and back, you’re going to want to stab yourself in the eye or roll the dice (and not pay),” he said. “To have to walk back and forth to pick up a $15 window shade, they’re not going to do it...they’ll go to Lowe’s or Home Depot.”If parking revenue is an issue, Prown questioned why metered parking is free on Broad and Front Streets after 6 p.m., which is when restaurants and entertainment businesses see heavy traffic.

“Why not collect revenue when it’s busiest in town, after 6 p.m.? Broad Street is hopping after 6 p.m.,” Prown said. “It’s like giving box seats away for free at Yankee Stadium and charging premium price for upper deck seats.”"We want to be driven to the entrance of the Mont-Saint-Michel," said Michèle Le Barzic, a labor union official representing the staff of about 60 civil servants from the Culture Ministry who work at the abbey's museum.

The strike, which began Monday at the Mont-Saint-Michel, is the latest in a string of walkouts in the French tourism industry. Last month, the Eiffel Tower was closed for two days when employees walked out over working conditions. In April, staff at the Louvre struck for a day to protest the rising number pickpockets around the museum.

At the Mont-Saint-Michel, the industrial action is part of a prolonged dispute involving local authorities and businesses over how hundreds of workers and up to 20,000 visitors gain access to the site every day.In 2005, authorities launched a 10-year effort to restore the natural beauty of the site, where silt had accumulated since construction of a causeway in the late 19th century. A curvy bridge will replace the causeway, allowing water to again surround the island at high tide.

As scientists and car companies forge ahead — many expect self-driving cars to become commonplace in the next decade — researchers, city planners and engineers are contemplating how city spaces could change if our cars start doing the driving for us. There are risks, of course: People might be more open to a longer daily commute, leading to even more urban sprawl.

That city of the future could have narrower streets because parking spots would no longer be necessary. And the air would be cleaner because people would drive less. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 30 percent of driving in business districts is spent in a hunt for a parking spot, and the agency estimates that almost one billion miles of driving is wasted that way every year.

Harvard University researchers note that as much as one-third of the land in some cities is devoted to parking spots. Some city planners expect that the cost of homes will fall as more space will become available in cities. If parking on city streets is reduced and other vehicles on roadways become smaller, homes and offices will take up that space. Today’s big-box stores and shopping malls require immense areas for parking, but without those needs, they could move further into cities.

The Autonomous Intersection Management project, created by the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, imagines cities where traffic lights no longer exist but sensors direct the flow of traffic. Although a video showing off the automated traffic intersection looks like total chaos, the researchers insist that such intersections will reduce congestion and fuel costs and can allow cars to drive through cities without stopping.

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