May 2, 2007 — Starting Monday, drivers will not be allowed to line up along the Cruz Bay waterfront from the public pay phones, located across from Sheila's Pot food cart, to the 30-minute parking area, St. John Administrator Leona Smith said Wednesday.
Motorists will still be able to line up along the waterfront from the dock to the pay phones and from the 30-minute parking to the driveway that leads to the Battery.
Thanks to Cruz Bay's horrendous parking problem, motorists picking up or dropping off people at the ferry dock essentially double-park in front of the taxis, which are allotted 14 spaces that run perpendicular to the waterfront.
Most of the villa managers fit their cars in at the head of the dock, where the Vitran bus also parks.
Smith said the area where parking will be banned covers a space where about a half-dozen cars could fit.
She said it was necessary to prohibit parking in this area because the parked cars get in the way of large vehicles turning the corner by the Morris deCastro Clinic. "It's a traffic hazard," she said, adding that someone ran into her vehicle at that location.
Smith said that the Public Works Department will mark the area and that she's asked the Police Department to be lenient.
While Smith said the change is for a good reason, several vacation villa managers disagreed.
Karen Baranowksi, who spends considerable time in the area as the owner of Windspree villa management company, said that people will now have to circle around multiple blocks if there's no room in the double-parking lane. She said that this means that when they spot the person coming off the ferry dock, they'll have to stop in traffic to pick them up.
"It will contribute to congestion in an already congested area," Baranowski said.
Baranowski said that she tries to park at the head of the dock, along with other vacation villa managers, so she can pick up her guests. She said the police officer on duty helps people get in and out of that area.
She wondered what would happen if someone had to pick up a small child or an elderly person and couldn't find a place to wait for them.
"The people going to be affected are the local people," Island Getaways villa manager Kathy McLaughlin added.
McLaughlin said that during the week, most of the villa managers can fit their vehicles in at the head of the dock, but on Saturdays, the day when most guests arrive, the villa managers use nearly all the spaces in the double-parking lane.
Smith said a change is also coming to the head of the dock. She said that the Vitran bus will now park in the center, with the crosswalk to the right of the bus as you face the dock. The left lane closest to the shopping center will be used by people picking up passengers.
McLaughlin said that the bus issue arose because the bus drivers left their engine running, and the fumes filled up the stores that sit adjacent to what was the bus lane. She said the drivers agreed to turn off their engines, so the problem has disappeared.
She said she was at a loss to understand why the bus will now be in the middle because it will make the entire parking situation more difficult.
Lisa Durgin, who owns Vacation Vistas villa management company, said that if the villa managers can only park in the lane adjacent to the shopping center, they'll have only about one-third the amount of space they had before.
Smith and the villa managers agreed that the entire system needs an overhaul.
"But let's do it after we get the taxis out of there," McLaughlin said.
She and others agreed that it was unfair that the taxi drivers get to occupy nearly all the parking along the waterfront.
Smith and several villa managers called for a taxi staging area out of the congested waterfront area — similar to ones used in other locations. The taxi drivers would then be called as needed to a waterfront pickup area.
Smith said that everyone, including the taxi drivers, must embrace change in order to make the waterfront area work smoothly.
"We'll have to sit down when the planner comes on board," Smith said.
When the planner, promised by Gov. John deJongh Jr., will arrive remains unknown. Government House spokesman Jean Greaux did not return a phone call made requesting information on the subject.
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