The city of Northampton has a pattern of making decisions affecting downtown businesses, their workers and customers without their input.
We have a huge shortage of restaurant workers downtown and that problem is about to get worse because of a vote that the City Council just took to shift the hours people have to pay for parking to 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Northampton has never charged for downtown meter parking past 6 p.m. in the history of our fare city. Why now?
I am not against local taxes but the people who will get hurt by this new requirement the most are our local small restaurants and their working class employees. Our restaurants have not recovered back to pre-COVID revenue yet. Forcing tipped workers to have to leave work at night, in dimly lit streets and parking areas to feed the parking meter a good portion of their tips is cruel and many of them are female. If they can’t get a break to feed the meter they will be left with a hefty fine they can not afford to pay with their meager wages. And they cannot afford to pay for the John E. Gare parking garage either.
The new 2023 tipped wage in Massachusetts is only $7 an hour! The restaurant diners also have to run out during their dinner to feed the meter. If out of town people give business to our restaurants, driving out of their way to come to Northampton and they get one of these hefty parking tickets, they won’t return!
Our restaurant owners are struggling to stay afloat nevertheless make a profit while they pay their local taxes and rising rents. How can we justify hurting them now? Our city has managed through world wars and recessions to not raise the charged parking meter hours past 6 p.m. no matter how strapped the city was for cash.
Amherst business owners and customers have complained about their cities extended parking fees, losing many potential visitors. I hope our city leaders make the right choice to reverse course from this harmful policy, and put our local businesses, workers and customers first.
Sara A. Elkins
Northampton