Judge Freniere issued this judgement regarding the Museum Square Garage situation on September 4, in support of the tenants stating that the City must find adequate parking for them but not as they expected. She also stated, “This is a very bad contract for the City,” referring to the original one over 30 years ago.
Judge Freniere used it to guide the actions for remediation by providing “36 dedicated parking spots located within one city block of the Museum Square Apartments for the exclusive use by residents of the Museum Square Apartments twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.” Remember, only 36 spaces.
The City shall also provide 200 dedicated parking spots located at the Buckley Garage, for the exclusive use of residents of the Museum Square Apartments. The interesting part of the decision is that they are to be used between the hours of 4:30 pm and 8:30 am weekdays, and all day and night on weekends for people who work during the day time. This was not an arbitrary decision but it was taking into consideration the language in the original Parking Easement Agreement. This is what is called Priority Access Hours.
Anyone having Priority Access Hours will not be allowed to park at Buckley Garage after 8:30 a.m. incurring on regular parking charges or even towing. If Judge Freniere was going by the rules specified in the original contract, it means that tenants using the garage 24 hours a day for years, were in violation of that agreement.
The City must also provide and pay for a shuttle service every 15 minutes between the Museum Square Apartments and the Buckley Garage (or another location mutually agreeable to the parties), during the Priority Access Hours.
There is no clarification as to shuttle service outside of the “Priority Access Hours” (8:30 am to 4:30 pm) or if the shuttle will run 24 hours each, 7 days a week.
Another issue not dealt with in this order was the monthly payments because the Court was just responding to the tenants’ claims regarding parking facilities. The logical response to that should be that tenants are entitled to free shuttle service but not free parking so they should start paying their dues to the city.
There is much confusion going on regarding Museum Square and residents tend to believe that it has been resolved with this decision. Not so; it has created many questions and the big question is still unresolved – that’s the repairs or reconstruction of the garage.
These measures are exactly what the City would have done once the repairs started without 17 months of controversy over the money it will cost. By not listening to the council members who wanted an estimate of total cost instead of authorizing “a down payment” as a mayor called it without any knowledge of the final expense, the only thing he achieved was postpone a negotiation.
