The Tony Carytown section of Richmond has parking issues. The contractor hired to enforce parking for the city is, horrors, doing just that. They are ticketing cars who are in a space more than two hours. Of course all heck is breaking loose particularly from local merchants. They business is going down the tubes, all because their customers are getting ticketed.
But are they — or is it the merchants themselves that are getting ticketed? You know the story, most free spaces around a merchant’s store are taken up by their employees. Oh and the sidebar — there are two large, empty, free garages within a couple of blocks walking distance.
My solution — do a survey and find out just who is parking on street in the area and the publicize the results. Start charging for parking — make it a small amount for the first couple of hours and have it increase after that. Use the money generated for new curbs, sidewalks, streets, lighting, parks and the like in the area.
Here’s what will happen — the employees will park in the free lots, there will be plenty of parking for customers, no one will complain, and all will be right with the world.
The odds of this happening, astronomical against.
JVH
3 Responses
It’s not that simple, unfortunately. The movie theater alone does not have enough parking for a full-show and frequently those shows run over 2 hours. Add dinner out & you have a 4 hour afternoon. This is one of those economic lifeblood areas the City must do everything they can to protect. Enforcing time limits will have the effect of driving customers away… I’m sure of it. I also know plenty of the merchants who understand who their competition is – lifestyle malls on suburban edges. They would not jeopardize any potential business by using valuable store frontage parking. Most have reserved parking in the back of their building anyway.
Carytown also has not one, but 2 free parking garages for customers to use. The time limits should be enforced.
How big do you think the free garages are? The one behind the theater cannot even support parking for a matinee, hence, my point that time limits would kill business for the theater and restaurants. They are both two-level jobs adjacent to an alley. They authority that manages them have also allowed them to fall into disrepair.