IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED …
Troy to take another crack atmanaging downtown parking
TROY, N. Y. » Officials are looking to take another crack at solving the one problem that threatens to choke off the continuing renaissance of the city’s downtown.
About 50 people attended a two- hour program hosted by the city Thursday at the Troy Innovation Garage to gather public input on downtown parking, as well as to introduce a company the city is considering for both short- and long-termassistance. DeputyMayorMonica Kurzejeski, who led the forum, said the exchange of information between the public and representatives of LAZ Parking was meant to give officials from theHartford, Connecticutbased company a glimpse at what improvements the public seeks and for the public to see how the company — which manages public and private parking facilities from coast to coast, including Schenectady — can improve both availability of parking spots and the amount of revenue the city can generate.
“We all realize that parking has to bemanaged better,” admitted Steven Strichman, the city’s director of planning and community development, who worked with LAZ Parking when he served as Schenectady’s director of de-
velopment prior to coming to Troy. “We know what our inventory is; now, we have to manage it.”
Downtown parking was already the subject of a 2015 study done in connection with a plan — later abandoned by downstate developer Kirchhoff Properties— for re- developing One Monument Square, the former riverfront site of City Hall. While that report came to the same conclusion that the city has adequate parking but requires better management, officials said the study by Fisher Associates, a Rochester- based engineering firm, included some disputed data and is already outdated because of continued development since the study was compiled.
Comments offered by downtown residents and business owners during the forum reflected the dilemma officials face, however, in trying to juggle sometimes opposing needs. Kurzejeski said some of those needs are unique to
Troy among Capital Region cities because of the mixture of commercial and residential development that has come over the past decade to downtown, defined as the area between Federal and Congress streets and 6th Avenue and the Hudson River.
“We’re probably one of the most residential downtowns — other than maybe Saratoga — and we have to balance that,” Kurzejeski said.
Among the ideas broached by the public was issuing parking permits for residents, better enforcing existing parking regulations and cleaning up existing public facilities.
“We’re here to have a conversation,” Kurzejeski said. “We want to hear from you. We want to hear you concerns as a resident, as a business owner. We’ll take this [ input] and come up with a plan that makes sense for all residents of the city, for all our businesses.”
Some questioned whether the fiscally strapped city could afford to bring in a private company, but both city and LAZ Parking officials said better management would not only improve
the overall situation, but also help the city to generate additional revenue.
“If we’re not saving you money, we probably shouldn’t be here,” said Rob Maroney, vice president for government relations for LAZ Parking.
Maroney and Dave Suszko, a Troy native and the company’s director of upstate operations, said their company is a full- service company, handling staffing and maintenance of municipal parking facilities, installation and maintenance of meters and pay stations, marketing, collections and enforcement. LAZ Parking is one of the largest parking companies in America, operating hundreds of thousands of parking spaces in thousands of locations across the country
Kurzejeski said the city and company are only discussing a relationship at this point, with no commitments in place, but she agreed with Maroney that any future relationship would only serve the city’s best interests.
“You have to invest in your facilities if you want to get a good return,” she said.