By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
An “interim” agreement restoring subsidized parking for patrons of the Princeton Public Library was officially announced on Thursday, after a 14-month interruption that drew public criticism and eventually forced new negotiations between the township and borough.
The arrangement providing two hours of free parking in the Spring Street garage was cancelled in February 2007, when the two municipalities failed to agree on a cost-sharing formula for the program.
The new agreement was formally announced announced by Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand and Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman. It provides for subsidized parking to resume sometime in May with the two municipalities sharing the cost on the same basis as all other library expenses. This will require both to increase their 2008 library contributions, the announcement stated.
”I am pleased that our residents will be able to, once again, park in the borough’s parking garage, for up two hours at no out-of pocket expense” said Mayor Marchand.
”We welcome our residents back to using our garage, for up to two hours of subsidized parking, while using our wonderful library”, Mayor Trotman said.
A more detailed, long term agreement is still to be worked out, according to Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi, who predicted that this would be accomplished by the end of the year.
The remaining issues are expected to include how each municipality will contribute beyond 2008 and whether eligibility for the two free hours will continue for all library users.
The municipal split has been the most contentious issue between township and borough, in part because the borough operates the garage and receives the parking revenue it generates.
The eligibility issue has been raised by some officials as an argument against subsidized parking, their contention being that downtown shoppers were merely passing through the library to get two hours of free parking in the business district.
”The agreement today is an interim measure and the two municipalities will work together over the next eight months to achieve a permanent arrangement that will guarantee the available of parking for library users well into the future,” Deputy Township Mayor Bernie Miller said Thursday.
Similar assurances were expressed by Borough Council President Peggy Karcher, who said: “I am quite confident we can reach a long-term agreement to guarantee parking for our library patrons by the end of the year.”
Members of the public, including former library trustees, have argued that the two municipalities took on a moral obligation to abide by public pledges of discounted parking when they signed off on the library’s current downtown location.
Library Director Leslie Burger has said that the February 2007 cancellation of the subsidy resulted in a decrease in library patronage.
The two governing bodies agreed to bring back the subsidies “as early in May as possible” during a meeting earlier this month, Mr. Bruschi told The Packet on Wednesday.
”We need to sit down and provide an implementation plan to Leslie Burger,” he said. “It is both the borough and township’s intention to get this thing running expeditiously.”
