City eyes valets in jamming of meters

Parking meters around Back Bay restaurants with valet parking are broken and put out of service at a rate far higher than in other locations, records released yesterday show, and city officials believe that valets are intentionally jamming the meters to park cars there without risk of tickets.

According to the records, hundreds of meters near the restaurants are jammed each month, forcing the city to repair some of them as many as 10 times a month. City meters, on average, require repair four times a month.

City officials acknowledge they have not gathered specific evidence, such as photographs, showing employees of valet companies intentionally breaking the meters. But they say the disproportionate number of jammed meters around the restaurants with valet service strongly suggests that the valet companies are to blame.

''The evidence we have is that in certain areas of the city we believe there are individuals who are making the meters inoperable," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who called the practice ''intolerable."

''They have a right to do business," he said. ''They don't have a right to destroy public property."

Valet companies are required by the city to park customers' vehicles in garages. By parking cars in on-street spaces with broken meters, valets can pocket customers' fees, which run as high as $16, and avoid the cost of paying expensive garage fees. While it's illegal to park for longer than an hour in spaces with broken meters, parking enforcement officers do not consistently enforce that rule.

In the area around Dartmouth and Newbury streets in the Back Bay, for example, workers had to remove foreign objects from meters nearly 500 times in July. Three meters outside Capital Grille on Newbury Street had to be fixed 22 times during the month. Four meters near Vox Populi on Boylston Street were repaired 29 times. One meter outside Ciao Bella on Newbury Street had to be fixed 10 times; another was repaired seven times. And a meter at Charley's Saloon on Newbury Street was repaired nine times.

Menino and city officials yesterday are threatening to revoke valet operator's permits if attendants continue to park on city streets, rather than in private garages.

''It's intolerable what the valet companies have done to the parking meters," Menino said.

Jeffrey Conley -- executive director of the Boston Finance Commission, who has studied the city's parking meter maintenance program -- said the city hasn't been aggressive enough in combating meter vandalism.

The problem came to light this week after Boston police, acting on a tip, witnessed a Park Plaza Hotel bellman allegedly stuffing paper into coin slots of meters behind the hotel. The police also watched an attendant at the nearby Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar allegedly parking at other spaces with broken meters. The three establishments were issued violations, and the bellman was charged with malicious and willful destruction of property.

Spokesmen for the two restaurants said they were unaware their valets were parking on the street, but would investigate and take appropriate action.

Andrew Tuchler -- president of Ultimate Parking Solutions, which operates the valet service at the Park Plaza, Maggiano's, Vox Populi, Ciao Bella's, Capital Grille, L'Espalier and many other restaurants around the city -- said the company has notified its 400 employees that ''tampering with any public property is a criminal offense and employees will be prosecuted accordingly.

''Any parking on the street is prohibited," he said. ''We understand the regulations of the City of Boston. If any employee is found parking vehicles where they are not supposed to, they will be disciplined appropriately. We consider it a privilege to be doing business in the city, and we are very responsive to complaints."

But residents and workers around the city said that for years valets have been tying up metered spaces, loading zones, and even handicapped spots.

''I'd say half of the spaces on my block are taken by valets," said Sean Newell, manager of M.J. O'Connors, a restaurant in Park Square. ''We have a loading zone during the day. After 6, it's prime real estate. Between the hotel valets and Maggiano's, by 6:02 they have it monopolized. Later the nightclub guys take over.

''It kills me," he added. ''Customers come out of Maggiano's, and their car is across the street. . . . When I first started, I yelled at [the valets]. If they were new, they'd panic and move the car. After I went back in the restaurant, they'd come back. I would love to see more spots open for people to drive in from the suburbs and feel like they hit Megabucks by getting a free spot, instead of putting money in the valets' pockets."

George Regan, a spokesman for Ciao Bella, said the owner, Joseph Cimino, called Ultimate yesterday and ''put them on notice."

The Boston Transportation Department has launched a crackdown on illegal practices. Crews are looking for valet-parked cars in on-street parking, or anyone, valet or not, tampering with meters. Commissioner Thomas Tinlin said he is concerned about the high number of inoperable meters near restaurants that provide valet service, though he acknowledged that other drivers, including restaurant and construction workers, could be jamming meters.

''If we catch anybody putting a meter out of order," Tinlin said, ''they will be arrested."