Parking Downtown will become noticeably more expensive in 90 days, late in April, about the time a new City Council is seated.
After years of shifting from one foot to the other with regard to the civically touchy subject of parking meter rates, the City Council lunged across the line last night and made three whopping changes:
• Parking meters will be live until 11 p.m., seven nights a week.
• To clarify, for the first time, parking meter regulations will be enforced on Sundays, once a sleepy time Downtown, but now a heavily patronized day.
• Parking meter rates will climb to 50 centers above the highest hourly rate in the city’s three parking structures, namely $1.50 for 60 minutes.
Not incidentally, the Council approved four additions to the Police Dept. in the name of expanded enforcement — two parking enforcement officers and two community enforcement officers.
With the quiet old Downtown of recent memory having been jubilantly blown up and replaced with a hip, always-expanding and modernizing enclave, crowds of people — especially young people — have filled in the yawning empty sidewalk spaces that embarrassed natives.
Councilman Andy Weissman said the changes both are necessary and good.
“For more than 4½ years the Council has been evaluating a comprehensive plan to deal with (greatly increased) Downtown parking,” he said.
“Finally now, we are going to begin to implement policies that will allow us to best maximize the Downtown areas.”
A lengthy years’ long parking study has shown that meter occupancy exceeds 95 percent for most of the day on Sundays.
The twin motivations are to raise revenue for the hungry City Hall coffers and to keep traffic flowing efficiently.
The Council put off a decision to alter the policy of two hours of free parking in the parking structures until more data is available.
