Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti announced Monday morning on WILK’s Morning News with Nancy and Jason that a new agreement has been reached with the city’s parking system bondholder—one that removes Saturday metered parking from the debt restructuring plan.
Under the deal, the city will pay $50,000 per year for the next three years in exchange for keeping Saturday parking free. After that period, the city will have the option to revisit whether to implement metered parking on Saturdays.
As part of the broader restructuring, weekday metered parking hours will be extended from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The announcement comes ahead of a scheduled City Council caucus today at 5:30 p.m., just before the regular 6:30 p.m. council meeting, where members will revisit legislation tied to a parking system refinancing plan designed to avoid default and fund long-term infrastructure improvements. It's up to council to vote on whether to adopt the refinancing plan.
The plan has drawn widespread attention and concern, especially over the original proposal to begin charging for Saturday parking. Business owners, residents, students from Lackawanna College, and library patrons spoke out during public meetings, saying Saturday parking fees would discourage downtown activity and hurt the local economy.
Council had deadlocked last week on an ordinance needed to amend the city's concession agreement with Community Development Properties Scranton, the nonprofit operator of the parking system. That tie vote effectively stalled the plan and raised the risk of default. Listen to the full interview with Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti on WILK:
