SCRANTON -- City leaders announced a new partnership to fix parking problems in Scranton.
The city of Scranton announced plans Friday morning to turn over its parking garages and parking meters to a nonprofit company.
That company -- National Development Council -- helps cities across the country with community development projects
NDC has been involved in city projects in the past, providing small business loans to businesses in the downtown, but should this deal go through, NDC could manage Scranton's downtown parking for decades to come.
The parking deal still has a lot of unanswered questions.
In a news conference at City Hall, Scranton's mayor announced a plan to fix what he considers to be one of the city's biggest financial problems: parking.
The Scranton Parking Authority is in debt and the city can't afford much-needed upgrades to meters and parking garages downtown.
So, the city plans to turn over all parking operations to National Development Council.
"Because NDC is not for profit, once all the expenses are paid off any money left over for particular projects that we would work with to pick with NDC," said Scranton Mayor Bill Courtright.
That may sound too good to be true, but Scranton city officials wouldn't take questions at the news conference. They asked us to call and ask questions of other city officials on a conference call. So, we sat in the mayor's office while those officials talked with us over the phone behind a closed door several feet away.
We learned that Scranton will save more than $3 million each year but we don't know how the new management could affect folks who park downtown.
NDC says they plan to invest in improvements for the garages and parking meters -- something the city just can't do.
"One of the biggest problems is the condition of the garages," said Scranton council member Pat Rogan. 'Anyone who parks in a downtown garage knows they're in deplorable condition, and the city, because of our finances, we don't have the ability to pay for it, to repair all those garages, it would cost millions of dollars."
The owners of Pizza by Pappas, just down the street from City Hall, say their business has declined as the quality of the parking garages have.
City officials say the garages need more than $40 million in renovations.
Employees here are afraid their parking fees may go up but the owners think, if the city gives up control, it could only be better for business.
"If someone can come in and do a better job than how it's being done now, I'm all for it," said Bill Sheakoski, Pizza by Pappas. "I think they're also going to have to look and see, they can't increase because there's going to be someplace else for these people to go. They're already finding places to go."
"NDC will also thoroughly modernize the parking system, cleaning up the garages, relighting them, and introducing the kind of technology that makes parking experiences much more pleasant and convenient," said Mayor Courtright.
This parking deal also includes the only independent and free parking in the city at the newly renamed Marketplace at Steamtown. Through a lease agreement, the same nonprofit will manage parking there, too, but officials insist parking will still be free for shoppers.
The new parking plan still needs approval from the Scranton Parking Authority and city council.
