News

By Jane Smith

    Parking meter times east of the Intracoastal Waterway have changed again. Delray Beach users will again have to feed the meters only between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. seven days a week.
    The previous hours of 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. lasted only a few weeks last fall after the Delray Beach City Commission approved the switch to longer hours at the first October meeting.
    “There was a lot of confusion and push-back about the extended hours,” said Don Cooper, city manager.
    When the city starts its beach master plan work in June, he said smart parking meters will be included. Those meters can take credit cards. The meters also can be synced with mobile phones to alert users that time is running out and suggest additional payment, which can be made via the phone without returning to the meter.   
    Mayor Cary Glickstein had suggested the extended hours last fall.
    “I received many complaints from both business owners and recipients of parking tickets. While it was broadcast through various mediums and noticed by the Police Department, experience shows many don’t pay attention to such notices and were surprised by what appeared to be a very sudden change,” he said recently. “After several conversations, staff concluded it made more sense to make the change when the new meters are changed.”
    Fran Marincola, a co-owner of Caffe Luna Rosa along the beach and a veteran member of the city’s Parking Management Advisory Board, applauds that decision.
    “The problem was the antiquated meters, not the extended hours,” he said. The meters can take only quarters or Smart Cards, sold by the city. “Enforcing it at night was just getting negative revenue.”
    In other City Commission action in January, the city raised its marina rental rates by more than 55 percent for live-aboard boats owners who will pay $28 a foot and more than 33 percent for those who don’t live aboard boats and will pay $27 a foot.
    The parks and recreation director had recommended an increase of nearly 17 percent for live-aboard boats. But commissioners said it was not high enough when compared with marina charges in surrounding cities.
    Delray Beach has 24 slips and a waiting list of 70 boat owners.