HARLINGEN — After months of debate, the city appears to have a plan to clear Morgan Boulevard of parked cars blamed for accidents along the busy street.
City commissioners have approved an ordinance setting hundreds of feet of no-parking zones along parts of Morgan and Washington Avenue.
For years, employees’ cars have spilled out of the parking lot at Advanced Call Center Technologies, or ACT, a call center near the intersection of Morgan and 77 Sunshine Strip.
So, many employees have parked along Morgan and Washington, often blamed for blocking motorists’ view and causing accidents.
Earlier this week, commissioners approved the ordinance setting long stretches of no-parking zones to stop cars from parking along the streets.
The ordinance allows the city to tow cars parked in the no-parking zones, setting fines of up to $200.
As part of the plan, Redelco Commercial Real Estate Leasing, which leases the property to ACT, has closed one of its three entrances to the call center’s parking lot, Assistant City Manager Carlos Sanchez said yesterday.
Meanwhile, he said, ACT has leased nearby property, creating about 45 parking spaces for its employees.
“We’re glad to come up with a resolution that everybody is apparently happy with,” Sanchez said. “We’re doing it in the best interest of the traveling public. We want a facility that is primarily safe.”
Louis Martin, Redelco’s president, said the agreement will help improve parking in the area.
“They’re going to take the cars off the street because there are some dangers there,” Martin said.
Martin said ACT’s new parking area will give employees a place to park.
“That will probably suffice,” he said.
ACT, with more than 800 employees, has said it would consider hiring additional workers if the city could help improve parking in the area, Mayor Chris Boswell said in April.
“It’s my understanding they are going to hire more people,” City Manager Dan Serna said yesterday.
But Serna said he did not have details readily available.
Like city officials, some nearby businesses have expressed safety concerns.
In the last year, the area has been the scene of six traffic accidents, Serna said.
But Redelco representatives said ACT employees’ parking did not lead to those accidents.
