Parking Takes Center Stage at Council Meeting

Parking issues took center stage during Tuesday’s Bradford City Council meeting, and misbehavior on Main Street played a part in the discussion, too.

Business owner Steve Cavallaro, who presented council with a petition holding 1,876 signatures of people who would like to see a change in the parking meter situation in Downtown Bradford, said he isn’t against tickets, but he doesn’t want the metered parking so strictly enforced that it discourages people from shopping downtown.

There was also discussion on whether parking enforcement officer Karen Disney is too enthusiastic in the writing of tickets.

Kathy Obermyer, on the other hand, lauded Disney’s enthusiasm and jokingly said maybe council could put that enthusiasm to use to help alleviate the problem of misbehavior on Main Street.

I sometimes which you’d give her a billy club so she could clean up the other side that we’ll be dealing with this summer,” she said.

Mayor Tom Riel said council will look over three proposals Cavallaro laid out for parking. He also said the city hopes to install security cameras downtown – at no cost to taxpayers – within the next few months. The Bradford Area Chamber of Commerce has been taking donations to pay for the cost of the cameras, and they still need $30,000 before they can move ahead with the project.

You can listen to the full conversations, and the rest of the council meeting, here.

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