Borough Council addresses parking, downtown congestion

The Princeton Borough Council spent most of their Tuesday night meeting discussing a possible plan for easing the downtown parking crunch.

One of many ideas that has emerged from a continuing debate over how to solve congestion in the downtown area, the plan suggested employees of downtown businesses park in remote lots around the area and be transported to work in taxi cabs. The cab rates would be reduced to a cost of $6 per trip — a fee shared by the Borough, employers and employees — and would actually be less than money spent on metered parking.

Councilman David Goldfarb expressed reservations, saying employees probably would not use the service because some parking can be found in downtown residential areas that would be more convenient.

Councilwoman Wendy Benchley stressed the importance of continuing to look for ways to solve the parking problem.

"Let's look constructively at how we could make this plan happen," she said.

Councilwoman Mildred Trotman said the plan would require the support of downtown businesses to be successful, and the council decided to personally contact merchants and employers.

An audience member suggested the council look into setting up carpool networks to reduce the number of cars requiring parking spaces.

The council agreed they would need more information before they could discuss the plan in depth.

The council also voted to approve an ordinance that would allow them to bypass a public bidding process on projects in certain emergency situations.

Administrator Robert Bruschi said that the Chestnut Street Fire House's current heating system was inoperable, and if the station had to go through the usual bid process, the new heating system would not be installed in time for cold weather. The firehouse would still consult several companies to compare costs before completing the repair, Bruschi said.