City meets with business owners upset over purple parking zones

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- You may have seen the new purple curbs, and you've almost definitely heard about them. The new purple curb pilot is supposed to give delivery drivers a faster way in and out of parking on some of the busiest streets in the city. But some business owners say all it's doing is driving away customers. 

On Tuesday, more than a dozen local business owners met with representatives from the mayor's office to make it clear: they're not happy with how these purple curbs are playing out. 

The city met with a lot of upset business owners and citizens over the purple curbs and the first thing the city said to everyone gathered was, "we're sorry."

Mineo's Pizza was the setting for the gathering with upset business owners who let representatives of the mayor's office know how unhappy they were. 

"You are hurting our businesses by implementing these purple curbs," said Mineo's Pizza owner Dominic Mineo. 

Mineo is one of the many retail, restaurant and other business owners who say the new smart loading zones will cost them money. The idea is to get people in and out of loading zones quickly. The problem is that many business suppliers say their purveyors and suppliers need more time to unload and shouldn't be forced to pay for the space. 

In addition, many said the city didn't do its job in letting them know the new smart loading zones were going in. 

"That's not the process that we wanted to see go down here. We did have some miscommunications and thought that there had been some information shared so I want to personally take responsibility for that and apologize on behalf of Mayor Gainey and behalf of the city," said neighborhood services manager Rebekkah Ranallo.

Many of those attending asked the city if the city would consider special permits for some of the companies that deliver to their businesses, allowing them to stay in the purple zones but not have to pay for it. 

The city says the program is a pilot program that may end, but for now, the purple parking spaces will stay.