Squirrel Hill business owners raise concerns about new purple parking zones
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The purple curbs popping up across Pittsburgh are hard to miss.
They're designed to make money and keep people moving. Four of them were just painted on one block in Squirrel Hill, and not all business owners are happy with the decision.
"These purple curbs came up, these signs came up, and not one person in the city of Pittsburgh came to us," said John Mineo, owner of Mineo's Pizza.
He feels bamboozled. It's a sea of purple on his block. So no more idling to wait for take out or Uber Eats drivers waiting for their next ping.
In the purple zones, the city's website says it is up to 33 cents for five minutes, nearly $5 for 15 minutes and up to a maximum of nearly $13 for 30 to 60 minutes.
"I saw the guys painting the purple curbs and I said what's going on and they're a subcontractor from Boston," Mineo said. "We don't have purple paint in Pittsburgh. We don't have council people that come to me and say, 'Hey we're doing this. What do you guys think?' No, it didn't happen that way."
Every driver parked in the purple will get invoiced automatically based on their license plate. No app or meter is needed, as there are cameras pointed right at them.
It's purple time from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
"I got a truck outside from (Pennsylvania Macaroni Company) that's there for two hours," Mineo said. "You're gonna charge them and then they're gonna raise my prices because they got to compensate for the tickets they're gonna get, which is ridiculous."
The city's website says Pittsburgh landed a $100,000 grant from Automotus, a curb management company. There are 20 of them so far in the city, and this started as a one-year pilot program that Pittsburgh City Council extended for two more years.
Mineo fears it'll deter business, not attract it.
"Why should my customers, my purveyors, pay if they come in for two minutes? Why?" he said.
The city says most people are parking for about 20 minutes and paying $1.67.
The city added that two Squirrel Hill community groups, including the Squirrel Hill Business Association, were told about the program, saying it was not dropped on business owners unexpectedly.
Mineo says that's impossible because none of the business owners on his block heard about it.