Questions surround parking meters downtown

In April 2015, after several months delay, the City of Kent unveiled new parking meters across downtown, citing the simplicity of the machines as opposed to a traditional “chalk the tire” method.

Before the meters were turned on, City Manager Dave Ruller expressed the need for a more effective method to control day-long parkers, as chalk the tire enforcement proved to be “far from foolproof,” Ruller said. “It still relies on a sense of civic responsibility that unfortunately hasn’t always been evident”.

As downtown Kent has continued to transform over the past several years, the need to keep things moving quickly and efficiently is ever-present. For this reason, the justification for the meters has been established, and Ruller said in a 2015 article that he wrote that, “parking meters aren’t fool-proof either but they have proven to be more effective than tire chalking so we’re certainly willing to give meters a try again for the current generation shop owners.”

But what has the city done in the past two years to gauge the response of business owners and patrons since the meters have been put into place. With all the promises made by Ruller, assuring that the shift towards meters is best for the city, what has been done to prove this claim?

We reached out to the city office, in an attempt to get into contact with Dave Ruller. A deflection by his office and a suggestion to contact community development specialist Bridget Susel. After multiple attempts for over a week, our team was still unable to get a response from Susel.

Ruller said in 2015 that the city doesn’t make any money off the meters, so questions raise regarding this point. Do the meters lose money for the city, then? How much is it costing the City to employ corrections officers to oversee the meters? These questions and others were intended for Ruller, but went unanswered.

According to Lieutenant Michael Lewis, the City employs two corrections officers, who make between $14.47 and $18.73 per hour. The specific routes taken by these officers, however, cannot be disclosed, because as Lieutenant Lewis said via email, “That could endanger officers by giving the impression these officers are walking around with large sums of money and telling you exactly where they will be at any given time.”

As far as the impact of the meters on those who use them, the response seems to be mixed. Many students still feel that the parking situation is still too crowded, but the meters have also influenced some students to avoid the whole ordeal all together.

“The meters have made it a lot less competitive trying to find parking because most students don’t want to pay to park, so I know me and my friends will park at one of the frat houses and then walk downtown to the businesses,” said graduate student Marina Housey, who has lived in Kent since before the new meters were rolled out in 2015.

With such a drastic change downtown, and still no word on how the community feels about the meters almost two years after installation, our team will continue to investigate. Have the meters lived up to the expectations of both city officials and residents? So far, there’s no way to tell.