WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT. By John F. Bailey. August 5, 2004, UPDATED 2:30 P.M. E.D.T.: The Mayor's Office has strongly objected to Common Council President Tom Roach for announcing to one news medium this afternoon's 5 P.M. Common Council work session on parking before the meeting was confirmed or even announced by City Hall. Paul Wood, Acting Executive Officer and spokesperson for the Mayor's Office, said the Mayor has spoken to Mr. Roach and asked him to refrain from making such advance leaks exclusively to one medium in the future.

WPCNR has also been informed by Mr. Wood that the boundaries of where in the city the hours would be rolled back and the Sunday parking fees eliminated were to be determined this afternoon, but could not be included in the legislation. "That's a big issue that has to be determined," Wood said.

WOOD REBUKES ROACH ON PREMATURE LEAK TO MEDIA: Paul Wood, Spokesperson for the Mayor's Office accused the Common Council of politicking on parking today by feeding advance notice of this afternoon's parking meeting exclusively to a media outlet. "The Mayor's office was in the process of polling Councilpersons to see if they were available to discuss the issue. We had not even announced the meeting yet. Mr. Roach has been talked to about this." Photo WPCNR News Archive.

Wood said the story was not confirmed by the Mayor's office before it appeared. He said the Mayor's Office was not contacted by The Journal News for comment. Insiders say the story appeared to be a Common Council effort trying to take full public credit for rolling back the parking hours of enforcement to 9 P.M..

Wood said it was the Mayor's initiative to call the meeting and explore the idea about rolling back the hours.  

No Groundswell of Public Outcry

Wood said the Mayor's Office has received less than twenty telephone calls about the new parking rates and hours since they went into effect. Wood characterized the Common Council as overreacting to just a few individuals in their rush to roll back the parking hours which they are expected to do this afternoon. Wood said  "As the Mayor says, there is no limit to the things we can accomplish if we all work together. The Mayor was thinking we could try the new rate structure for a few months and see how it worked. We think they are overreacting."

Asked if the Mayor had a statement saying where the new revenue the parking hours about to be lost would have generated, Wood said he did not.