City looking for financial aid to solve parking woes

By SHELLEY TERRY - Staff Writer - sterry@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

March 26, 2008 04:46 am

— ASHTABULA — Anyone who has tried to find a parking space along Main Avenue knows curbs and concrete pose problems.
The downtown merchants know it, and have repeatedly asked the city to do something about it. Most recently, Oscar Tomasio, vice president of the Ashtabula Downtown Development Association asked City Council to “remove the obstacle for growth, by providing more parking spaces for businesses.”
The city manager knows this too, having recently received a $40,000 estimate to remove six Main Avenue “islands” from U.I.C. General Contractors in Ashtabula. The estimate does not include hydrant, water valve, tree and stump removal.
City Manager Anthony Cantagallo said he will ask U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Concord Township, for financial help.
Dino DiSanto, deputy chief of staff for LaTourette recently talked to about 25 businessowners and city officials about the six-year, highway bill which contains millions of dollars in federal funding for dozens of projects in northeast Ohio.
The measure, which will come around again in October 2009, provided funding for improvements to Route 45 and the MetroPark bike trails, he said.
“(The highway bill) is definitely an avenue that we can get you funding for, but you need to talk to your city manager because the city has to submit the project,” DiSanto said. “You have to come up with a match, most likely 80/20, so you are invested in the project.”
DiSanto said money from the bill could give the city money to replace the sidewalks and provide attractive lamp posts along Main Avenue.
Jim Timonere, president of the Ashtabula Area Chamber of Commerce, asked about the flexibility of the money and if could help the city rework Main Avenue’s curbs.
DiSanto said it could include curb cuts.
“You need to sit down with your city manager and figure out what you want to do,” he said, noting the construction portion of project would not actually begin until spring of 2010.
Cantagallo said he’s all for the project.