Paid Parking Downtown - Another Public Meeting Coming Up
It’s been two weeks since the first quarters jangled into the coffers of Tacoma’s new downtown parking pay stations. After two years of panel discussion, studies and planning, our Parking Advisory Task Force finally gets to take a look at real-world statistics and embryonic hints of patterns. Has the parking management strategy been a success so far? Who better to ask than you – the patrons/owners of downtown businesses, the residents of downtown living spaces and the participants in downtown events?
You will have the opportunity to summarize your impression of downtown paid parking at a public meeting to be held on Thurs., Oct. 7. at 5 p.m., in the University of Washington Tacoma Carwein Auditorium (in the Keystone Building).
By all accounts attendance at the previous public meeting on this topic was lackluster. Will this meeting be different? Will business owners come out in droves to express their concern or support?
For more information about the pay stations, visit Downtown Tacoma Parking here.
To refresh your memory on key points in the debate on the issue, see the previous Exit 133 coverage and comments here.
Filed under: Parking
19 comments
S Slim Jim October 5, 2010
Seattle is considering raising their downtown $2.50 per hour parking rate to $4.00 (KIRO News). Even suburb retail spokespeople are against it, saying although this could push customers to them in the short-term, it’s economic suicide for the city as a whole in the long-run.
Frankly, I can’t remember the last time I’ve been able to find street parking in Seattle, anyway… always have to pay even more at a private parking lot.
R Richard October 5, 2010
It would be nice if those fancy machines accepted Amex!
D dolly varden October 5, 2010
Erik, I think the word you were looking for was “anachronistic,” not “anarchicistic”/anarchic. I pay to see anarchic pay stations though.
D dolly varden October 5, 2010
I mean, “I’d pay.” That’s what I get for my picky copy editing.
E Erik B. October 5, 2010
Thanks for the clarification Dolly!
E Erik B. October 6, 2010
Here is picture I took today on Market Street at about 3:00 p.m. which shows the typical occupancy of the area during the day:
A pay station in downtown Tacoma stands as a lone sentinel over dozens of empty parking spaces.
A near complete blow out. Hopefully, the Tacoma Parking Division will monitor the area and reduce the price of the parking in the area ASAP.
E Erik B. October 6, 2010
7th Street by Puget Sound Pizza:
Z Zack W October 6, 2010
Wow, i wonder what the percentage is of people too cheap to pay for parking and taking business elsewhere, vs. people moving their cars every few hours. I tend to agree though that if this is happening, time to loosen up on the time limits some to fill some of the spots. Or, Remove some of the spots to create wider streets with bike lanes, and give some space to transit to improve bus stops, add layover space, etc.
B Brenden October 6, 2010
it has been said and i will say it again, there should not be any pay stations between 7th and 9th st. I hope the parking Task-force will listen this time instead of just doing what they want. so far they have not listened to anybody.
S Squid October 6, 2010
I am more than happy to pay for street parking in a downtown area, especially since this is what one does in virtually EVERY other downtown area in the nation. However, I am NOT confident that Tacoma’s rather large population of hicksters (decidedly not represented much on Exit133) will ever come around to pay parking. I fear their heels are dug in. Maybe they never really came downtown in any numbers anyway though.
I am also not at all sure that different pay rates in Tacoma’s rather confined geography will make any real difference. You are talking a distance of only a few blocks from the deadzones to places that seem to be working. Doesn’t seem like a different price is going to work, but maybe I am wrong.
I do think that extending/eliminating time limits would be a good thing. I would spend 4 hours downtown regularly if I could do it for $3-5.
B Brent October 6, 2010
I still find it interesting that as the east cut-off is Market, the city employees are still in a position to play parking roulette along Tacoma ave, 7th to 9th.
The unofficial free UW parking has been pushed to the south side of 21st, i.e. warehouse district. While driving through that area today, I saw a guy scoping out cars. As this is not University property, UWT doesn’t patrol it or offer nighttime Walk-you-to-your-car servies.
Food for thought.
C Chris K. October 6, 2010
I want to see what Tacoma Link ridership and Tacoma Dome Station parking rates have done in the last month before we start changing anything.
Also, have people heard that Tacoma Link is going to be shut down from 6:30am to 1pm on Friday for VP Biden’s visit. Isn’t this seriously the dumbest thing to do? People have already had their transport options limited once in the last month. Why are we limiting them more? And why doesn’t this apply to Pierce Transit’s buses? WTF.
T Tim Smith October 7, 2010
@13 Chris, the Secret Service establishes a series of security zones around the “principal” ie Joe B and strive to curtail and constrain all movement into and through such zones. They will start early in order to clear the various threat areas and hiding spots within these zones. Dogs will check all the planters, trash cans, blind corners, sweeps will be made of the roof tops. Having Link continue to move through the zone is a problem – although they could just close the stops within the most inner zone after they have been cleared/sanitized. Buses will more than likely be re-routed at some point – they probably haven’t figured it out yet. Expect a major void/security zone downtown on Friday.
S Squid October 7, 2010
Nice work Erik B. I will tell you from personal experience though that telling people in this town that they should follow a CA/SFO best practice is a superior methodology for picking a fight.
E Erik B. October 7, 2010
Nice work Erik B. I will tell you from personal experience though that telling people in this town that they should follow a CA/SFO best practice is a superior methodology for picking a fight.
Thanks.
Tacoma has made a lot of mistakes regarding parking over the last 50 years including knocking down whole blocks of historical buildings for brutish parking garages and has suffered the consequence. (No doubt done with good intentions)
All one can do is point to and advocate for best practices and hope that some of it will trickle through the system.
P praetorian October 8, 2010
Extending time limits beyond two hours will allow those who have the financial means to continue the practice of chain parking; in other instances, those who may regualarly ommute to work DT may park 1, 2, 3 days a week on street when they can afford it. This defeats the purpose of channelling long term users into desirable off-street locations or encouraging transit usage. Dont get me wrong, I buy into the Shoup-ian notion of allowing the market to control the duration and occupancy of spaces based on pricing but going balls out to allow users to park all day on street if they can afford it only deteriorates the effectiveness of the system. If you have areas with low occupancy, adjust the prices accordingly as suggested. If areas are chronically unused despite those changes, then remove the parking and add other urban street amenities that support alt modes (i.e. bikes)…
J Jim C October 8, 2010
Paper dollar accepters would have been nice. Have to remember to carry change from now on, it has been long time since I’ve had to do that.
T tacoma1 October 8, 2010
If no one is willing to use some of these parking spaces unless they are free, then a logical question has to be what other free uses might these spaces be used for?
Bike lanes? Food carts? Alfresco dining if by a restaurant? Wider sidewalks? Space for street trees?
B Brian October 13, 2010
I live downtown and thought the meters would drive me away. I am happy to say they have not (yet). I found out you can pay the meters the night before and that makes a big difference for me.
I don’t mind paying to park on the street as long as the rates are reasonable. I only need a couple hours in the morning and an occasional day off. This is where it would be nice to have an option to pay more to park all day if one needs to. The idea that my parking all day is hindering business… well I’ll leave that for experts to decide. Still, I do spend most of my spare change at those same businesses so I think the option should be available to feed those meters up to a whole day at a time.
For me though, I think a better option would be for people to have the choice to purchase a zone permit to park downtown as much as they want. The downtown grid could be divided into as many as 20 “zones” however and you would still have to pay to park outside the specific zone you need to frequently park in. Any one want to join me in favoring that???
On another note, thank you Exit 133 for telling us about these important things, but could you maybe give us more notice of stuff? This post was only 2 days before the public meeting—which I did want to attend if it could have been planned further out—and that just isn’t enough time for me to “catch” the news.