Free parking: A fix for downtown woes?
EUGENE, Ore. -- Last summer, you could park for free along West Broadway.
Now you can pay to park there with the convenience of your credit card.
Which is better for bringing people into downtown Eugene -- and generating revenue for parking enforcement? Businesses and city officials believe a change in parking could change downtown for the better.
What change remains to be decided.
"Parking is very important to coming downtown," said Jeff Petry, the city's parking services manager. "It's one of our vitalization programs we're looking at."
The city is experimenting to try and find the best parking fit. This past summer, the city offered free parking along West Broadway as part of a pilot program.
This fall, the city installed parking meters you can feed with your credit card. Petry said about 25 percent of the transactions right now are from credit cards.
Tom Kamis, owner of Davis Restaurant, wants the free parking back.
"When we had free parking, people loved it," he said, "and it got a lot more foot traffic in the place."
Kamis said his business went up 15 percent during the free parking trial. Since that program ended, it's gone down 10 percent.
Some downtown business owners have put together a petition to try and bring free parking back. Kamis said free parking encourages growth, and with more people on the street, free parking could help drive out crime.
"There's no reason to pay," he said, "for a downtown that's struggling to survive."
Petry said downtown occupancy did go up by 7 percent during the free trial, but those West Broadway meters bring in about $48,000 a year.
What do you think? Share your thoughts on parking and other downtown issues by posting a comment.
Want to blog about downtown? Check out downtowneugene.kval.com -- then send a sample post to the Web producer.
