Overflow crowd shows up to complain about parking ban

An overflow crowd turned out Monday night at Central Falls City Hall to voice outrage over the overnight parking ban put in place recently by the receiver. 

Too many people showed up to fit in the City Council chamber, and about 100 people waited outside. 

The council will reschedule the meeting to accommodate more people.

A state senator from Central Falls said Monday she wants the state-appointed receiver overseeing the city's operations to scrap the ban on overnight street parking in the city.

Sen. Elizabeth Crowley said it should be up to the elected City Council to approve such an ordinance - not the retired judge shepherding the insolvent city through bankruptcy proceedings.

"I want it to be scrapped," Crowley told The Associated Press. "Then if it's an issue the City Council wishes to take up, there's a process to go through. It should be done by the elected officials of the city, the representative government."

Crowley, a Democrat, has lived in the town of about 19,000 all her life.
"It's not bad enough that the residents have had to face this bankruptcy? That's not bad enough? Now you have to kick the dog when it's down," she added.

The ordinance prohibits on-street parking between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. It went into effect Jan. 2. Since then, violators have gotten only warnings. The city starts giving out $40 tickets Tuesday morning to those who violate the ban.

Maj. James Mendonca, executive officer of the police department, proposed the ban, saying it will help improve access for emergency vehicles and reduce overnight crime and vandalism. Receiver Robert G. Flanders, a retired Supreme Court justice, approved the measure in December and made a change to it Friday to allow people 65 or older or those who demonstrate a medical hardship to apply for exemptions.

But a slew of residents have complained - both on its merits and because they say they were taken by surprise to learn of it.

Council President William Benson Jr. calls the new ordinance "idiotic," saying the public lots don't have enough spaces to meet the demand and they make more attractive targets for thieves because so many cars are parked in one spot. He said he suspects it was passed not in the name of public safety but as a revenue-raiser.

As of July, Central Falls was facing an unfunded pension and benefits liability of $80 million and budget deficits of at least $5 million annually for each of the next five years. The city also lost a substantial portion of its state aid and did not get the revenue it expected from a detention facility.

After the receiver stepped in in 2010 to help the city out of its fiscal hole, the council was all but stripped of its formal duties and has been acting in an advisory capacity. Flanders filed for bankruptcy on the city's behalf in August. He has since put forth a five-year recovery plan that includes pension cuts, tax hikes and other budget savings.

Benson has long criticized the receiver's office as dictatorial. He was anticipating a "mob scene" of residents with concerns and complaints at Monday night's council meeting.

Resident Rose Marie Canavan also has complained about the ban - to Flanders' office and to the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. She said it is the council's job to pass legislation.

"They're the only ones that can pass an ordinance," said Canavan, 75, a former city council member who opposes the ban but would be able to receive an age-related exemption. "They're the people that got voted in to be our advocates."

Of the receiver's office, she added: "They don't know the city and they don't know the people. They think they're helping us but they're just causing a problem."

Flanders replied in a letter to Canavan that his office complied with the law and followed proper procedures. The ordinance went through several readings and a public hearing was scheduled, although there was not a large turnout at that meeting, he said. Residents' comments are being taken into consideration, he added.

"We are continuing to monitor," Gayle Corrigan, Flanders' chief of staff, said Monday. "We'll continue to tweak this."

The ACLU said it is reviewing Canavan's complaint.