Council hikes Pittsburgh parking taxes

In an effort to get Pittsburgh back in the black, the Pittsburgh City Council approved hiking… In an effort to get Pittsburgh back in the black, the Pittsburgh City Council approved hiking parking taxes 50 percent, which will affect commuters Downtown and in other business areas.

The city, already deeply in debt, seems not to know how to raise revenue. Raising parking taxes, which forced the Pittsburgh Parking Authority to raise its rates, will lower revenues by driving away potential customers. Stores Downtown already have to compete with suburban shops and malls; making parking more expensive than it is will dissuade most customers from coming into the city.

Under the Parking Authority’s new rates, all-day parking will cost between $1 and $3 more than it currently does, and off-street metered parking lots’ rates doubled to $0.25 for 15 minutes, according to the Jan. 15 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

As students, every cent matters. This 15 minute-fee could mean that a package of ramen goes un-purchased or a quarter draft goes un-drunk – and that’s enough to convince most students to shop elsewhere. Of course, with a Pitt ID comes a bus pass, but the Port Authority’s ever-changing schedule can make shopping difficult.

And Oakland, as a business district, may be hurt by these changes. Many Pitt students commute and do not have the extra money to pay these new rates. Still others who patronize Oakland may take their business elsewhere.

Money is tight at every level – local, state and nationally. Pittsburgh has clearly been hurt by this shortage, as indicated by the city’s massive debt, but cutting services and making current services more expensive will not remedy this.

Instead, this proposal, which Mayor Tom Murphy is expected to sign, will drive consumers – and resultantly, businesses – out of the city.

Pittsburgh is rapidly becoming a place people don’t want to live. In addition to being the United States’ worst city to be single in, it cannot afford basic services like crossing guards and bulk trash pick-up. If the city wants Pitt students to remain here, it needs to improve, not cut, current programs, and make commuting less onerous.

The City Council had the right idea – raising revenues. But this is clearly not the way to go about it. Murphy should veto raising parking taxes, and instead propose a more feasible way to raise revenue.