On July 15, Springdale Borough Council passed new parking restrictions that few people seem to want except borough council. Why? I believe it is to punish the Allegheny Valley School District for merging facilities for the football program into the soccer and track programs by making repairs to the field at the high school.
Most residents seem to be cool — if not cold — to the idea, as shown by three recent TribLive articles. According to the borough, the parking restrictions will not be enforced against residents and their friends and will not be enforced most days of the year.
I have attended graduations, plays and rivalry soccer games with big crowds. Personally, I have seen no parking issues that impacted nearby residents. There was no chaos. For the affected area, the borough has no record of any parking complaints in 2024 or 2025. These restrictions only harm the school district by predicting future parking issues that just have not bothered nearby residents in the past.
The restrictions won’t really affect the nearby residents, except for the hassle of registrations and making phone calls for relief from enforcement. The borough intends to look the other way, except to punish visitors to the school district (including Springdale residents who live outside the parking zone).
Like a bitter ex, it seems the borough wants to take revenge on the school district after a bad breakup.
David Buchman
Harmar