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Politics & Government

Pilot Paid Parking Program Gets Tabled

Selectmen reached no consensus on the proposal last week.


The Selectmen were sharply split on whether to exempt local residents from paying to park on Humphrey Street from the Lynn city line to the Red Rock Bistro.

Paid parking on the eastern side of the street had been proposed by Selectman Barry Greenfield as a source of revenue. He believes that the parking spaces would be used by non-Swampscott residents, frequenting the local restaurants along the waterfront and would pay to park.

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Town Administrator Thomas Younger said the town would find it difficult to enforce parking regulations that exempt local residents.

Selectman Jill Sullivan called exempting local residents "a managerial nightmare."

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Selectman Glenn Kessler disagreed. "It is a great idea, and I support it with one codicil." He said Swampscott residents already pay the highest local taxes on the North Shore. "I do not want to add one cent to that burden."

Board Vice Chairman David Van Dam sided with Kessler on the local parking issue, while Chairman Richard Malagrifa joined Sullivan in saying it would be necessary to have local residents pay.

Greenfield asked that the issue be tabled, saying the board had other more pressing issues to resolve.

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