Hi Ben,

Thanks for your response. I don't think the clogged streets and threatening drivers are local. I'm more concerned with the passers-through and restaurant patrons.

In my alternate reality, I would like to see parking created somewhere, dedicated to restaurant/shop patrons, as well as heavier ticketing of cars without tags and an extension of ticketing hours. Speed bumps built into the streets bordering the State Street neighborhood might also help slow traffic and discourage cars cutting through on these narrow, heavily parked, and pedestrian heavy streets as well.

Hey Mila,

We have looked around and unfortunately there is a multitude of tenants with an unregulated amount of parking passes.

I'm totally with you on the bump-outs.

It will be interesting to see what comes of the conversations with the city.

There's been a couple of 'issues' with the same situation: parking on Clark St.

Has any discussion been made regarding changing the "One Way" direction on Clark? What are the pro's and con's on that?

And.. lest we forget.. CM uses Clark as it's "Valet Parking Lot"... illegally, I might add.

Yes, I love CM's and am a regular there, but they need to find parking elsewhere. It's just a zoo!

And, people get aggressive when they just want to belly up to the bar to get a drink after work on Friday....

I wonder if having State Street companies hire an off-duty cop or two during Happy Hour on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights - to walk the State Street strip - might help with traffic congestion and violations and disorderly conduct?

...I'm sure some New Haven policemen/women might appreciate the OT.

Regarding opening up Clark Street to a two-way street: the street just is not wide enough for that, and then there would be no parking for residents.

Well, here it is Friday again. 6:30 pm. NO PARKING AVAILABLE. Cars parked right to the corner of Clark and Pleasant making pulling onto or across Clark very dangerous.

Who can we call after hours about this? Will the police respond to issue parking tickets?

Ben, do you know if there is any possibility of CM's using the municipal lot near Bradley St for their valet parking?

The muni lot is already filled. I suggested granite square for employees but the walk is too far.

What about for valet parking?

Glad to know someone is looking into the 'resident' permits given out on Clark Street. I have seen people with beach stickers from other shoreline towns with resident stickers drive in to town, park and walk downtown. It seems renters can get stickers for relatives to come and 'visit.' Time to review that policy and crackdown on abusers.

in order to have a residential pass, you must have your car registered in New Haven, which includes the annual car tax. Each automobile owner receives (with a fee) one sticker for the car they own, and (for an additional fee) two visitors' passes which are the plastic hang-tag type. Those are great for a significant other or friends/family who are visiting.

the problem here isn't the LOCAL permit owners, it's the huge influx of patrons from out of the neighborhood who are forced to park on side-streets, when all other parking options are limited. Penalizing legitimate visitors of the residents by disallowing them to congregate legally is not the solution. Finding another place for patrons to park is the issue that needs to be addressed.

I spent a happy year visiting my girlfriend on Clark Street; I had a residential pass in a different zone, but her visitor's pass was invaluable when I stayed the night. Legitimate visitors should not be punished; the patrons of the bars need to respect residents, and there needs to be better parking options for the patrons.

The Department is aware of the parking situation on lower State St. and is working on coming up with a long term solution to resolve this problem.

This is a distortion of an authentic public safety issue.

Basically, you have out-of-towners or otherwise lazy individuals who drive by themselves in four-person capacity automobiles to establishments/businesses in our city that are just as easily accessed by walking, biking, public transit or any combination of the three.

Why are they driving and where are they going, you might ask? Well, they just had a long day at the office and want a place where they can go and throw a few back without being hassled by downtown traffic and crowds, a nice watering hole where everybody knows your name. That's right, they want to get drunk, but oh no they're not like those rowdy hipsters downtown or those frat boys who don't know how to handle their liquor. These are sophisticated men and women who just enjoy a little good company under the guise of a tavern. Oh yeah, and they also want to be able to park as close to the bar as possible and then drive through your neighborhood as they try and get themselves home. They probably won't hurt anybody though. Is that okay?

REALITY CHECK, did you even read the initial post? Someone was yelling obscenities and threatening to start beating a car (and presumably a person) with a baseball bat. In my book, that's not okay.

Greg,

Sorry for the confusion. The end of my initial comment is dripping with sarcasm. I guess I didn't convey that well enough.

I completely agree that this is a serious issue. What I meant by a "distortion of an AUTHENTIC public safety issue" is that there is a very serious problem here, i.e. drunk driving, that is not being addressed by anyone here even our public officials. Is this a parking/neighborhood problem, yes. But it's also a serious PUBLIC SAFETY issue that affects all road users!! Why should we wait until someone gets hurt to address this??

Sorry to ruin your comment, I didn't get the sarcasm. D'oh.

No ruin. This is a serious issue. My sarcasm can be spared.

I would like to add another sad layer to the mix. Last year, I was living above CM and finding parking was like winning the lottery. When I first moved there I received several tickets for not having the parking permit, but one morning I realized that somehow the parking person magically missed the cars belonging to the patrons of the bar... And if I hear someone else telling me that those care behind me were not parked there when the parking authority person came by, I am going to lose my mind. BECAUSE I PARKED IN BETWEEN THOSE CARS.

@Resident... so you're saying that the TPA purposefully skipped CM patron cars and tagged a resident instead?

I wonder if it was the same city personnel who ignore the fact that CM illegally valet parks cars on Clark.

I am also a resident on Clark Street and I can vouch for the fact that on innumerable (and I mean that literally) occasions I have complained about the parking problem there and nothing has happened. That's over 4 years - and noone in City Hall has done anything to fix it. Ticket the illegal parkers, punish CM's for using the street illegally, enforce existing laws, require Modern & CM's to have valet services that use legal lots. DO SOMETHING! It's so out of control that I rue the day that I bought a house on this street that doesn't have a driveway. How could I have known that I was in fact buying a small shack in the middle of a local bar parking lot? I could just move into the Pirelli building and wave hi to the Ikea parkers every day. Someone - someone - please do something about this issue!!!! I'm begging you!

Did you get her license plate number? I'd definitely call the police on that.