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North Adams city council embraces mayor’s plan to charge $40 daily to visitors for event parking

A brutalist brick building sits under a blue sky.
Josh Landes
/
WAMC
North Adams City Hall.

The North Adams, Massachusetts city council met Tuesday night to discuss fee structures for downtown parking during concerts, festivals, and other large events.

The council heard a communication from Mayor Jennifer Macksey about establishing a daily event parking fee of $40.

“These are non-city sponsored events that are tying up a lot of city resources, and this is a way to generate some money to put back into our public safety department, and also to have some order in these public lots which we're lacking," said Macksey. “We're going to have more staff, more volunteers monitoring those parking lots. All of the people who currently have permits will have a reserved space with either their permit number or their license plate number on them so we can verify that the car parked in that area matches their permit or their plate number and we're going to mark them off. And if people park in you know, the designated spot, they're going to get ticketed, or they're going to get towed."

"I like towing better," interjected Councilor Wayne Wilkinson.

"Okay, well, we try not to tow our guests," said Macksey. "But you know, Center Street has really gotten away from us and it's gotten away from prior administrations, and this is our attempt to try to streamline that and have [a standard operating procedure] around how we handle big events in the city.”

Art museum, concert venue, and occasional festival site MASS MoCA draws thousands to the heart of North Adams’ downtown on a regular basis.

“We're sensitive, though, to those people who buy permits, not only in Center Street, but also St. Anthony's parking lot, that, you know, they've paid for space, and that they have space when they come home from work or when they come home from getting groceries," said the mayor. "So we're sensitive to that. And we're going to try everything we can, but we will have spaces designated and blocked off. Or more specifically in Center Street, you know, we're concerned about the businesses that are open on Friday and Saturday. Sunday's a lesser day, but basically Saturday and Sunday, we're going to split the lot right in half. And when things close well, we'll open it up. But we need to do a better job in Center Street and we recognize that.”

City Council President Lisa Hall Blackmer told Macksey that it’s not just the big MASS MoCA events that have tested North Adams’ parking system.

“I also know the farmers market was a real problem on Saturday," said Blackmer. "And it wasn't even one of the, quote, big concerts. By when I went at noon, there was no parking. And so because the event started at noon, it was filling up. And I know in the past that parking lot has been monitored during the during the farmers market to make sure that people parking there were actually-"

“Those are all things that this administration is sensitive to and we'll be addressing,” said Macksey.

“I'm not saying it hasn't been done," responded Blackmer. "I just, I think what happens is now that we've got the big events, we've got Wilco, we've got FreshGrass. Now they're bringing in other concerts that are bringing in 5,000 people who are eating and drinking and shopping, and it's great. But we didn't used to think about it. It was either Wilco or it was just MoCA. And now that we're having several events that are drawing big crowds, yay for us, but we have to think differently about it.”

After the discussion, Blackmer brought the final incarnation of the motion before the body.

“We've amended the ordinance to say at the discretion of the mayor, certain non-city sponsored events and locations shall be designated as event parking at a rate of $40 per day,” the city council president said.

With that rate, an event with 5,000 attendees could bring as much as $200,000 into North Adams’ coffers. MASS MoCA estimates that the biennial Solid Sound festival curated by Wilco brings as many as 8,000 visitors a day to the city.

The council approved the amended ordinance for a second reading and referred it to the public safety subcommittee.

Josh Landes has been WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief since February 2018, following stints at WBGO Newark and WFMU East Orange. A passionate advocate for Western Massachusetts, Landes was raised in Pittsfield and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, receiving his bachelor's in Ethnomusicology and Radio Production. His free time is spent with his cat Harry, experimental electronic music, and exploring the woods.
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