Melissa Bailey Photo
Workers slathered new concrete on the crumbling columns of the Crown Street Garage, as the parking authority launched a $6.5 million effort to revamp the way people park across the city.
The workers, Gustavo Barajas and Valentino Aguilar (pictured) of National Restoration, got busy Wednesday morning at the garage at the corner of Temple and Crown, where some floors are partially closed due to renovations.
The work is part of a promised rebirth of the parking authority, which plans to enter the electronic era with credit-card-swipe equipment, a new website, new signs, and a new nickname: “Park New Haven.”
“We want to make sure that our facilities are the cleanest, safest, securest in town, because it’s a competitive market,” said Chairman Matt Nemerson said at a press conference at the Shubert Theater Wednesday.
The parking authority maintains over 8,000 parking spots in six garages and 19 surface lots. It competes with other, newer facilities such as the garage at 360 State.
The parking authority issued $6.5 million in bonds to pay for repairs, in addition to ongoing maintenance. Most of the renovations are taking place at the seven-story Crown Street Garage, which was built in 1974.
The concrete there is showing its the stresses of time. And the elevator service is less than reliable: Firefighters recently rushed to the garage to rescue a man who got trapped in an elevator on his way to dinner.
The towering garage was abuzz with power tools Wednesday. Two workers repaired metal plates in the stairwell.
Guillermo Bautista mixed cement, then poured it into a bucket and hauled it to the other side of the garage where Barajas and Aguilar were perched on scaffolding. The workers, members of Connecticut Laborers Local 455, explained they were repairing the columns.
The city’s garages take a lot of effort to maintain because they have artistic touches that go beyond the basic infrastructure, Nemerson said. Some rose in the 1950s and ‘60s during urban renewal. They were among the first urban parking garages in the nation, he said.
On the Crown Street roof, a “No Pedestrians” sign cordoned off an area where workers are repairing a railing.
A Brand New Brand
Downstairs, during the press conference, a select squad of parking authority employees stood under a sign bearing the authority’s new “brand.” On cue, they pulled away a blue tarp to reveal … the name “Park New Haven.”
The organization’s official name is still the New Haven Parking Authority. “Park New Haven” is the new “consumer-facing brand” or “identity” that drivers will see as they park their cars. (The housing authority similarly has a “brand” name in addition to its official bureaucratic name.)
As part of the new image, workers got new uniforms sporting the new logo. (The old logo featured the nine squares of New Haven.) They’ll also be retrained in customer service, according to William Kilpatrick, executive director of the parking authority.
The authority, which employs 130 full and part-time workers, hired Chuck Mascola’s PR consulting firm, the Mascola Group, to launch a marketing campaign. A team of Mascola consultants Wednesday erected a backdrop with the new logo. Nemerson said the authority hired the group for about $50,000.
The contract included launching a new website at NHParking.com (not to be confused with NewHavenParking.com, which got snatched up by an airport parking company).
The website allows drivers to select from a list of New Haven attractions, such as the Knights of Columbus or the Shubert, and find parking garages near there.
In its next phase, the website will allow drivers to pay online, view the number of available spots in a given garage, and look at the wait-list for much-coveted monthly spots at the Union Station Garage.
By the end of the year, Nemerson pledged, someone driving into New Haven will be able to tell ahead of time if a garage is full or if construction work is in the way so the driver can reroute to a garage that has room.
The new data will become available as the parking authority begins to offer a electronic equipment. The equipment will pave the way for express check-out, according to Nemerson.
“Nothing ruins a day worse” than getting home late from New York City, showing up at a parking garage, and having to wait in line to get out, he noted. He said new electronic check-out equipment, which operates with a credit card, will begin to be rolled out this summer. The first system will be installed at the Temple Street Garage. Other garages will follow, said Nemerson (pictured).
The electronic equipment aims to let drivers jump lines by checking out without the help of a human being.
The parking authority is technically a separate entity from City Hall and operates under its own board of directors (though the mayor appoints board members). For the past five to six years, the authority has turned a profit, Nemerson said.
In remarks at the press conference, Mayor John DeStefano praised the new investment. He said 15,000 people live downtown; 50,000 people work there. The 12 million square feet of built space downtown generate half of the revenue for the city tax base, he said. The area draws half a million visitors to the city per year.
The parking garages are the “front door” of the city, he said.