As you may be aware, a focus of mine has been to boost the economy of the business districts in Mt. Lebanon. A key issue expressed by all constituents of the business districts was “parking”. The EDC Task force, that I initiated and spearheaded, in the process of creating a Strategic Plan for our Business Districts, highlighted the issues with parking by means of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis and has come up with several recommendations to address the issues with parking, whether they are perceived or not. The complete Strategic Plan with SWOT details and Parking recommendations are available online at www.mtlebanon.org.

As Commission Liaison to the Parking Authority, I have initiated meetings between the Parking Authority (MLPA), Business & Professional Association (BPA), Building Owners and the EDC Task Force to address these issues. I reached out to Chris Schultz, member of the EDC and fellow MBA alum from CMU, to put together a financial model to evaluate options that provide free parking and greater discount to the BPA’s parking validation program while remaining revenue neutral to the Parking Authority. (Thank you, Chris, for the financial models and your efforts in this regard).

In addition to Chris, I want to thank Al Frioni (Chair of MLPA Board), Rich Sahar (Executive Director of the MLPA) and Joe Ravita (President of BPA) among others for taking time to meet and discuss the various constraints as our conversations evolved into good solutions. Looking at usage patterns in the garages and other factors, we came up with solutions to provide one hour free parking for everyone in the South Garage and also provide the BPA with greater discount on validation. I met with the MLPA Board on Saturday, August 30th to discuss the financial model. I understand that the MLPA Board approved these recommendations at their Board meeting on September 4th. MLPA is currently working on the details of the new program and it is anticipated that the program will be unveiled shortly. I am looking forward to these being implemented, in addition to the various other MLPA initiatives (credit card payments, new parking meters, etc).

I believe that the small wins can go a long way to reenergize the community and free parking is one such win that was achieved at a grass roots level!!