Parking Meters are holding back Downtown Development

[IrvAdams]

Actually, I may get pushback on this, but personally I like the optional red/green either way lanes on Bay Street. At least it's not always one way only. Depending on the situation, it can be changed and left that way as long as needed. I went down there after a concert and three lanes were going away from the concert and one towards. But at least you could still go either way.

While we're trying to figure ourselves out here in Jax, let's behave like a curious college freshman and try a few different courses to see what we are good at. At least experiment with something new as opposed to staunchly defending the status quo.

[spuwho]

After the Great Chicago Flood, they simply banned street parking in the Loop. When the flood was cleaned up they made it permanent.

Buses were suddenly on time.  They were able to deploy enforcement to more chronic neighborhoods where double parking was common.

I agree with Stephen's analysis on the rise of parking enforcement and the decline of downtown. There is definitely a parallel of trends there, though as he said, not the only cause.

In Seattle they used to have a free transit district in the central city to try to keep cars out of the urban core. It was great because I could get from Westlake Center to Columbia Tower at no charge. I would park for free near Seattle Center, ride the Monorail to Westlake and then bus free to Columbia Tower (where parking was $$). They recently eliminated this last year (to pay for Sound Transit tunnels) but it was a great way to help people avoid driving in the core.

Create a free transit district inside the COJ urban core, eliminate street parking completely.

[tufsu1]

And if they are going to have them it would be nice if they worked.  Went down for One Spark and got there at 4, and needed to feed the meter for two hours.  As luck would have it I actually had 4 quarters to get me the two hours needed until 6. Well my luck ran out when the machine ate the last two quarters without moving the meter.  And yea, i banged on it. Luckily I did not receive a ticket.

The meter may have been broken....or you may have parked at a 60 minute max. meter.  There are also a few 30 min. meters near retail establishments like UPS that want/need high turnover of spaces.

[marksjax]

Stephen, that research is really insightful. Great effort. Thank you for sharing it.

[I-10east]

116 broken parking meters costs the city thousands a month.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/investigations/120-parking-meters-broken-downtown

[acme54321]

116 broken parking meters costs the city thousands a month.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/investigations/120-parking-meters-broken-downtown

They were running a preview piece this morning that showed a bunch of city employees were parking in these spots all day because they know which ones are broken.  If they got rid of them all and made it all 30 min or whatever parking and just ticketed violators this wouldn't be an issue.

[thelakelander]

There's no reason they can't be ticketed. There's time limited parking all over the country that's free, but enforced for turnover.

[Noone]

Did anyone notice all the covered parking meters on Monroe St. yesterday next to the library? What was that all about? Who replaced Jack Shad or is he still in charge of parking?

[tufsu1]

Did anyone notice all the covered parking meters on Monroe St. yesterday next to the library? What was that all about? Who replaced Jack Shad or is he still in charge of parking?

Jack Shad left several months ago.  That's part of the problem.

[acme54321]

116 broken parking meters costs the city thousands a month.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/investigations/120-parking-meters-broken-downtown

They were running a preview piece this morning that showed a bunch of city employees were parking in these spots all day because they know which ones are broken.  If they got rid of them all and made it all 30 min or whatever parking and just ticketed violators this wouldn't be an issue.

30 minutes?  why in the name of god would you do thus?  to be a dick?

"or whatever"

The point wasn't a specific time, but to get rid of the meters and designate a maximum time for the spot, whatever is appropriate.

[vicupstate]

How coincidental that this thread gets revived just one day after the lead article on Downtown Greenville. 

Not only has free but time-limited (and it is enforced) parking been a staple of the revitalization of Greenville, it has just recently been expanded to  allowing one hour of free parking in the city's 10 garages as well.  The on-street parking spaces are mostly 2 hours but some are 1 hour, 30 minutes or even 15 minutes.  The 15 minute ones are typically the one or two spaces closest to the doors of a quick transaction business, like a bank.   

In the almost 20 years I have lived here, I have probably paid to park Downtown a total of 3 or 4 times total, and I visit DT 1-3 times a week on average. Weekend evenings are actually the hardest times to find a space, not during business hours.       

[acme54321]

Not only has free but time-limited (and it is enforced) parking been a staple of the revitalization of Greenville, it has just recently been expanded to  allowing one hour of free parking in the city's 10 garages as well.

I like this idea.

[tufsu1]

city reports that in some cases, the meters just needed new batteries (backup when solar doesnt generate enough energy)...roughly half of the broken meters should be fixed this week

[jaxjaguar]

It would be much more friendly to those visiting downtown to remove the meters and strictly enforce time limits. The city could continue to make money off of fines, but visitors would have the freedom to drive into downtown for lunch without worrying about losing their coins in the meter (happened to me countless times), coming up to a dead / broken meter, or having to worry about keeping change in the car at all times.

If downtown wants people to come out from the beaches they'll need to lure them with free parking currently offered by the Town Center and pretty much every other establishment in the city.

Validating garage tickets (up to a certain time limit) with a purchase would also be great way to reduce the number of people parking on the streets.

[Noone]

Somebody, Anybody, go and check out the NEW ADA HANDICAPPED PARKING spot signs at the DCPS building at the Southbank Riverwalk 2014-190 next to the JEA (District) 2015-777 property. It has VISITOR on the signs. There are TWO.  HUGE news story. Is there any other ADA HANDICAPPED parking sign designed like this within 2014-560 zone? Jack Shad is gone so who gets the credit for this POSITIVE action? Beth Meyer?, Dr. Vitti?, Scott Shine?, Ray Pringle?, Ashley Smith-Juarez?, Lori Boyer?, Aundra Wallace?, Jim Bailey?, Catherine Varnum?, Melissa Ross?, Capt. Jim Suber?, Tera Meeks?, Carla Miller?, Angela Corey?, Tom Cline?, Tony Lopez?, Jim Piggott?, Tom Ingram?, Paul Astleford?,

Visit Jacksonville!