The City of Newburgh has removed 718 outdated parking meters and installed roughly 75 new high-tech parking meters to replace the old ones.

The plan has been in the works for years as part of a 10-year revitalization plan. According to the city of Newburgh, the upgrade and expansion of the parking meter program was done based on the results of a comprehensive Parking Meter Enhancement Study and Downtown and Riverfront Parking Meter Expansion Feasibility Study conducted in 2020.

Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey says they have discussed this plan at several city council meetings, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused a delay.

“We finally were able to get them [to] install a passport software program where people can download an app on their Android or their iPhone,” Harvey said. “The meters in the area are marked with zone numbers … you would put in the zone number, your license plate, you know, get the vehicle registered in the system, if you want if you download the app, so there's multiple ways you can engage and pay for parking throughout the city.”

Harvey says the amount of money the city gets in revenue is still unclear, but he hopes the money is enough to give the city a significant benefit.

“It is going to expand our tax base is going to hopefully continue to allow the city government and the city manager to decrease our taxes in the city, which is a commitment that I've made and others have made,” the mayor said.

Harvey says the money received will go into a general fund and will be appropriated accordingly. He says in no way is he trying to hurt businesses and residents, but there are concerns among businesses about what happens to their bottom line.

Glenny Medina, the owner of Estilo Muneca on Liberty Street, says she is already struggling getting customers from foot traffic.

“We are trying to do everything possible to bring people in, and then to have them to come in and have to pay parking, that's going to be probably going to be hard for us,” said Medina.

Medina says she’s worried that the new parking meters by her shop will give customers incentive to hit the road and not pay to park.

The mayor says there’s a compromise available for concerned businesses.

“There's merchant validation. So if you're a business and you want to purchase meter time for your customers, so they can pay a very high discounted rate for parking, if they frequent your business, or, you know, you want to give them free parking,” said Harvey.

According to the city, the existing parking meters on Broadway have been replaced and paid parking will now include Front Street, Liberty Street, Prospect Street and Grand Street with enforcement Monday through Saturday (free parking on Sunday).

The hours of parking enforcement are from 11 a.m.- 11 p.m. in the waterfront area and from 8 a.m.- 6 p.m. for all other areas. Through Passport’s mobile parking application, motorists will have the ability to pay for and manage parking sessions from their smartphones, as an alternative to using quarters. They went live Monday.