It’s another blow for people looking for fun in West Haven this July 4th weekend. The fireworks were postponed until Labor Day and now, there’s a $20 parking fee for non-residents.
“This is like our third time coming this week and today was the first time they charged us $20 and it’s only $10 actually with the kiosk,” said Dede Flaherty of Waterbury.
People are pulling up from all over the state to find the city’s kiosks are broken and the police department is charging $20 per car for parking.
“It’s very upsetting because it’s not our fault you guys’ kiosk is broken,” Flaherty said.
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The city posted a notice on Wednesday saying the meters fall under Chief Joseph Perno, who said the “pandemic has caused a shortage of parts and service technicians, preventing the kiosks from being fixed.“
“We knew we had to pay for parking and when we came last week, it was like $1.50 an hour,” Samara Jenkins said.
Now, a day at the beach costs more than ten times that price.
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“Now that it’s $20, I don’t know if we’ll be able to come here all the time,” said Ivey Collins of New Haven.
NBC Connecticut reached out to West Haven Police and the mayor for comment about the broken meters, the price-hike and why they hired a security team to collect the cash. They didn’t return our calls.
“It seems like they’re trying to get extra money to make up for the money they might have lost,” Flaherty said. “It’s a holiday weekend, everyone wants to come to the beach, it’s ridiculous.”
“It’s not equivalent to what you’d be paying on the parking meters – at all. They’re getting extra money out of people,” Collins said.
