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Why Can't We All Just Get Along?
Former Mayor Haverhill Jim Rurak
10/03/06
 Last week’s City Council
meeting in Haverhill was a classic. The council did
approve the mayor’s request to sell a piece of
public property. The the fireworks started over the
process of siting the downtown parking deck.
The debate was rancorous.
The mayor and the council president accused each
other of interrupting their speeches. The problem is that
nothing really substantial got said, and, we’ll need
real cooperation between the mayor and the council to
build the downtown garage.
Why? There are several real hurdles to building the
garage.
The first is that while the garage is under construction
the site is no longer available for parking. How do we
build the garage without choking development and killing
existing businesses?
In the mid-eighties, the city secured funding to
build a garage on the lot on Wingate Street. But parking
was already so tight that we couldn’t afford to lose
the spaces during contruction. Mayor Pelosi wisely put it
off.
In the nineties, the city made some gains in
surface parking. First, the lot at Essex and Locust, then
the demolition of the Winchell Building, then it acquired
the lot at Granite and Moulton Way. This made possible
the construction of a garage; there was for a time some
leeway between need and available spaces.
But now downtown development has heated up.
It’s probably happening too fast, but the mayor has
tied the reputation of his administration to it. So
he’s pushing hard to control the process. Now, the
MVRTA is paying for a consultant to evaluate potential
sites, and the consultant reports to the mayor. The city
council wants a say, but the mayor refuses to discuss the
matter publicly, instead inviting each by e-mail to meet
with him secretly.
Councillor’s Hart and Hall are outraged.
What’s it about?
It’s not about the open meeting law. It’s about
the mayor taking for granted all the input and decisions
he will need from the council in order to build the
garage. There will appropriations, leases, fee
structures, maybe even a land purchase. All these need
council approval. The council wants an open conference
with the mayor and it should happen.
The agenda should be:
1.) A report on the proposed residential development
downtown and a projection of parking needs it will
generate; 2.) Shortfall for residents and businesses: 3.)
Additional commercial space required to make the downtown
work and the parking needs such will generate; 4.)
Transportation and parking needs of current downtown
residents and businesses; 5.) Where all this information,
and perhaps more, lead us to want to put the garage; 6.)
How best then to proceed.
Thus far, the mayor’s only plan for parking
downtown is to reduce the number of spaces required by
code. That’s like making the trains run on time by
changing the timetables!
Mr. Mayor, it’s time to put ego and politics aside.
Meeti with the council and embrace the fact that you will
ned them to build this garage.
Jim Rurak is a professor at Boston
College and is the former mayor of Haverhill. Email your
comments or questions to Jim Rurak at JARandKAS
@comcast.net.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The October, 2006
Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
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All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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