- 4/17/2010
NEWPORT DAILY NEWS on April 17-18, 2010
City stalls valet plan
A parking proposal that had a trial run in 2008 is sent to city departments for further review.
By Sean Flynn
Daily News staff
Valet parking for Newport has seemed like a great idea to owners and operators of restaurants, shops and attractions in the downtown area for at least three years now, but it is having trouble getting established on a permanent basis.
Mayor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano was hoping the City Council would vote on a 11-page ordinance that was before council members this week, but on a motion by Councilman Stephen C. Waluk, they decided to send it back to city departments, including the city manager, planning, zoning & inspections, economic development, police and fire for more review.
“I was hoping it would come to a vote,” Napolitano said. “I’m certain we can come up with a viable program that is beneficial to the city and the people who use it. It would get cars off the roads during the busy summer season and create less frustration.”
If all this sounds familiar, it is.
“The service is desperately needed,” Napolitano said during a City Council meeting on June 11, 2008. “We’re kind of late in the game now. I don’t want to sit on this.”
After a successful pilot program late in the summer of 2008, business owners thought valet parking would be a fixture in the city by now.
“Just like everything else in Newport, it’s all tied up in red tape,” said Steven Cundy, president of the Lower Thames Business Association and owner of Tropical Gangsters clothing store on Thames Street.
“I think the problem is that they are trying to overregulate it,” he said.
For example, the ordinance before the council on Wednesday would have restricted hours of operation from 6 p.m.-1 a.m. Cundy disagreed that the service should be restricted to the evening. During the jazz and folk festivals, he said, people should be able to valet their cars in Washington Square in the morning, walk down to Perrotti Park, and take the ferry launches over to Fort Adams.
The vendor hired to run the valet services should be able to offer it when there is market demand, otherwise it might not work, Cundy said.
