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WILKES-BARRE — The city will issue a temporary parking permit to help a family that has several health care workers visiting daily to assure their vehicles do not get ticketed.
After reading a story in the Times Leader Monday, City Administrator Ted Wampole said he asked senior staff members to come up with a solution to help the Groner family, of West Chestnut Street.
Three members of the family — Louise Groner, 59, has been on disability since 1995; her husband, Elwood, 63, has been disabled since 1991; and Louise’s mother, Betty Williams, 76, has been bed-bound for five years and requires in-home health care daily.
The Groners live in a zone that requires parking permits to protect parking spaces. They have been issued one permit for their personal vehicle and two for visitors. They had asked the city for another permit to accommodate health care workers who were getting ticketed, but the city denied the request.
Wampole visited with the family Monday night and informed them the city will grant a 30-day emergency temporary permit that could be renewed if needed. He said Mrs. Groner told him she will be in a cast for the next four to six weeks.
“This is a special exception,” Wampole said. “The circumstances with the Groner family are such that they require another permit at this time.”
Groner said some of the visiting health care professionals have found $25 parking tickets on their vehicles. She said the visiting health care workers are responsible to pay for the tickets and their employers will not reimburse them.
The parking permits in certain zones have been required by the city for about 30 years, Groner said, to protect parking for residents. Employees of nearby Wilkes-Barre General Hospital used to park on the streets near the hospital before the parking permit program was instituted.
“The guidelines for parking permits are in place for a reason,” Mayor Tony George said. “But we are aware that there are situations that could warrant a temporary exception and this is one of those situations.”
Wampole, who has an elderly mother and is sensitive to the needs of older residents, said his objective was to find a way to help the Groner family during a difficult time.
“The city is trying to help us out and we are grateful for that,” Louise Groner said.
Wampole said the Groner situation is “an extreme circumstance” dictated by medical reasons.
“I think the Groner family got caught up in some red tape,” Wampole said. “Everybody is aware of the rules, but sometimes there are extreme circumstances that must be considered.”
Wampole will discuss the parking permit policy with the city’s traffic committee to see how improvements can be made to avoid future occurrences like what happened with the Groner family. The traffic committee is scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. May 27 at City Hall.
Wampole said he will also discuss other situations where multiple parking permits would be needed, such as family gatherings and social events. He said the city will look to see if there are ways to accommodate those situations on a case-by-case basis.
“We want to see how these situations can be handled,” Wampole said. “However, we can’t give every household a handful of permits.”