NRA to mull full-time paid parking tonight

Well a hearty 'thank you' to Stephen Tait, who wrote this story that answers the question I had about paid parking in the NRA- and Waterfront Trust-owned parking lots! Read all about it here.

Stephen explains what's going on with the waterfront lots and also writes about potential paid parking at the city-owned Green St. and Prince Place lots.

If readers who are also residents recall, Mayor Moak said in his January address to the Chamber that paid parking was in the city's near future.

Under the plan, which is on the agenda for tonight's NRA meeting (according to the city website, at 7 p.m., but doesn't say where), both the NRA lots on the river and the Waterfront Trust lot (the paved part of the parking west of Market Landing Park) will be paid parking year round, hopefully by the hour.

Right now, the NRA charges a flat fee of $5 to park in its lots on weekends and $8 on holidays and during big events such as Yankee Homecoming.

My question is, if they make it automated, how do people get to the Black Cow/Boat Camp to drop off kids/PI Coffee Roasters/whale watch without having to pay something? Down that little alley?

(By the way, PICR parking has diminished to, like, 2 spaces, one of which is for handicapped access only. I notice that Newburyport Development has also started charging whale watch patrons $3 to park in a roped off area.)

Although it's hard to swallow in these economic times, I think it's potentially a good move for the city, the NRA and the Waterfront Trust (seeing as how we have these non-city entities in the first place).

Hardly anywhere has free parking anymore, except Amesbury. However, I was speaking with former Mayor Byron Matthews a few months ago, and he said that having paid parking would make people even more inclined to go to a mall to shop than here.

All the more reason to investigate historic tours and such here, in addition to the shopping.