The City of Hood River, Oregon, has a problem. They don’t have enough parking downtown when the summer comes and the place is flooded with tourists. You can read about it in the local newspaper here.
Seems that there is parking, but its not prevalent enough. Downtown workers, who take up half the parking, can’t be forced to park in city lots, leaving convenient on street parking for their customers.
DUH…
So what does the city do, (This was all brought up at the same council meeting.)
First they give a 30 minute grace period on parking meters — I guess so the downtown workers have a better fighting chance to move their cars before they get a ticket.
Second: They hire a consultant for $35K to review the problem and make suggestions.
Third: They want to give some land to a developer in exchange for building a parking structure that no one will park in (they won’t park in the city lots now).
Heh…
I have a solution
Why not raise the on street parking fees a bit so its cheaper to park in the off street lots. Step up enforcement on those that park over their allotted time.
That’s it. Costs nothing. Increases revenue, opens up parking to those spending money downtown, gets a bit more exercise for the downtown workers. Everyone is happy.
J
PS I loved the idea of having a shuttle for downtown workers during the peek traffic months. They can park in outlying areas during the summer and be shuttled in to work. My guess it wouldn’t take a lot of shuttles. Maybe a van running at peek times (morning noon and night) Certainly a lot cheaper than a parking structure…I’ll bet the cost of the consultant would run the shuttle for the first year.
One Response
$35,000 for s consultant, for less than $50 they can read The High Cost of Free Parking and have the answer to their problems in weeks instead of months. Why is never the case that local government’s first inclination is to price on-street parking to it’s market value? If the local workers are willing to pay the freight, say $4 to $5 per hour than they have every right to the spaces but you and I both know that when forced to make a market driven decision they will find a better alternative and free up the spaces for the tourists who patronize their businesses and pay their salaires.