Parking in central Fayetteville

[zman9810]

The issue of the City of Fayetteville making all of it's public lots paid parking has come up again. This would be in association with the owners of the private parking lots in the central part of town and would provide a more uniform system of parking in the entertainment district. Instead of having cars towed when their time expired in the private lots the city would manage those lots also and issue tickets for violations- a much friendlier approach than towing. The system would also help establish a revenue source for future parking improvements. The only drawback is that tickets could be in the $50 range at times- a stiff price for a parking ticket compared to the $5 now in place. Of course- $50 would be much cheaper than the price of a towed vehicle. How much support is there for a public/private system like this?

[Mith242]

The issue of the City of Fayetteville making all of it's public lots paid parking has come up again. This would be in association with the owners of the private parking lots in the central part of town and would provide a more uniform system of parking in the entertainment district. Instead of having cars towed when their time expired in the private lots the city would manage those lots also and issue tickets for violations- a much friendlier approach than towing. The system would also help establish a revenue source for future parking improvements. The only drawback is that tickets could be in the $50 range at times- a stiff price for a parking ticket compared to the $5 now in place. Of course- $50 would be much cheaper than the price of a towed vehicle. How much support is there for a public/private system like this?

[zman9810]

I'm not sure what to think. A uniform system would be nice and it would also be nice in that it will help get rid of the annoying towing methods they've been using. I wonder how many people have stopped going to to Dickson St because they got their vehicle towed at some point. But at the same time basically getting rid of all the free parking could also keep people away as well. I suppose after people got used to it maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal. But I also can't help but wonder if this could end up backfiring and drive people away if they have to always pay for parking.

[Snaple4]

It was mentioned that they need the revenue history for bonds. This is something I guess the city will need in the future so I am for a uniform system. However, I do not think the city should charge more than $0.50-$0.75 an hour. Anymore would keep people from using the downtown areas. They also need to transition the lots. Do one here and then do the next there until all are paid. They will end up doing them all within a few days though.

It is hard to look at. If the city does not collect revenue directly from an hourly charge then they will have no revenue but the city already pays for the lot to be free in the form of taxes... We shall see, it will eventually all become paid at one point or another.

[Mith242]

It was mentioned that they need the revenue history for bonds. This is something I guess the city will need in the future so I am for a uniform system. However, I do not think the city should charge more than $0.50-$0.75 an hour. Anymore would keep people from using the downtown areas. They also need to transition the lots. Do one here and then do the next there until all are paid. They will end up doing them all within a few days though.

It is hard to look at. If the city does not collect revenue directly from an hourly charge then they will have no revenue but the city already pays for the lot to be free in the form of taxes... We shall see, it will eventually all become paid at one point or another.

[marmot]

I have no problem with it, and think it would be good for the city as far revenues. I've read that they are talking around $1 an hour, and that the kiosks would be linked so that you could renew from any kiosk if your time was expiring. This would eliminate having to trek back to your original lot to renew your spot if needed.

The reality is that parking down there is scarce, and it takes money to add to and maintain it. This seems like a good choice to me, and we are downtown all the time.

[zman9810]

I have no problem with it, and think it would be good for the city as far revenues. I've read that they are talking around $1 an hour, and that the kiosks would be linked so that you could renew from any kiosk if your time was expiring. This would eliminate having to trek back to your original lot to renew your spot if needed.

The reality is that parking down there is scarce, and it takes money to add to and maintain it. This seems like a good choice to me, and we are downtown all the time.

[Mith242]

Yes, the linked kiosks will help make it more user friendly. It would really be nice if it were possible to pay from a cell phone but that might be asking too much.

I think I read that rates would be linked to the time of day, which makes sense. Daytime rates should be lower in order to help retail and resturants compete with the rest of town. You don't want to discourage customers from coming to the area to patronize businesses. It will be interesting to see how it affects the university students who now use the free parking during the day.

[jdevers]

Since U of A bus lines stop at all the big free parking lots, I don't think they mind either way. Actually, I think they really would PREFER to have all the students be able to park on Dickson and not have to donate so much on campus space to parking...

[Mith242]

Since U of A bus lines stop at all the big free parking lots, I don't think they mind either way. Actually, I think they really would PREFER to have all the students be able to park on Dickson and not have to donate so much on campus space to parking...

[Snaple4]

Yeah the university is probably hoping that it will encourage the students to start using the parking decks on campus.

[Mith242]

Well this whole issue is now a bit up in the air. Gary Dumas was a big proponent on this issue and now Jordan has fired him. Not sure if this means Jordan is going to take a different stance or if that decision was based more on finances and not issues.

[zman9810]

Well this whole issue is now a bit up in the air. Gary Dumas was a big proponent on this issue and now Jordan has fired him. Not sure if this means Jordan is going to take a different stance or if that decision was based more on finances and not issues.

[bubba72704]

Does anyone know if businesses downtown are behind this? My thinking is that it will be hard for businesses in that area to continue to grow if their customers will be looking at having to pay an extra $3.00/hour to park. Why give their customers another excuse to go to the mall instead of downtown?

[Mith242]

Does anyone know if businesses downtown are behind this? My thinking is that it will be hard for businesses in that area to continue to grow if their customers will be looking at having to pay an extra $3.00/hour to park. Why give their customers another excuse to go to the mall instead of downtown?

[marmot]

I'm not sure but the few I've heard from seem hesitant and worried it might scare off some of their customers. Not sure if that applies to most of them or not.

[Mith242]

Its better than the towing companies prowling around down there. Just ask Neal, the owner of Jose's.

http://www.nwabusinessink.com/nwat/News/68989/

[OnDickson]

Yeah either way something has to be done about the towing. No matter what happens with the paid or free parking.

[zman9810]

Looks like Lioneld has put a stop to the paid parking plan in Downtown Fayetteville until he can be brought up to speed on the plan. He says he was unaware of the plan before he took office and needs more time to examine it. It seems he was flooded with calls from downtown business and property owners concerned about the paid parking plan. Lioneld says he will most likely put his yet-to-be-named chief of staff in charge of evaluating the downtown parking plan.

As a Dickson Street business and property owner, I applaud Lioneld for taking some more time to study this issue before implementing the new policy. I totally agree that something needs to be done about the current towing situation. Some of the worst towing compaines have trucks that do nothing but circle the lots downtown, waiting for a meter to expire or for a car to be parked illegally--that creates a real black eye for the Dickson Street area. But I'm not sure that we were quite ready for the paid parking plan as it was planned.

[Mith242]

You do wonder how he's not heard about it before. But it would be better to look into it and not make some quick decision everybody regrets later. I guess all we can say now is that it's up in the air now. Who knows how he'll decide on it.

[OnDickson]

I admit I was a bit surprised that the paper said Lioneld had not heard about the plan. In his defense however, I will say that there are not many people who have heard any of the actual fine details of the plan. Perhaps that is what he meant. I say this as a Dickson business owner--the city has given us virtually NO information about the new parking plan that was to be implemented. Most other downtown business and property owners that I have talked with learned all the details they know about the plan from the articles in the newspaper. So it's really not too surprising that Lioneld knows very little about the plan--seems that no one other than Gary Dumas really does and he was not very forthcoming with details.

It's hard to evaluate how successful the plan will be when we don't really even know how much the city is thinking of charging. The one time I heard the subject of rates mentioned by the city, they said that they wanted to keep the rates very reasonable so as to not hurt businesses. Of course they then said that during 'peak' times (ie nights and weekends) they were 'going to have to charge $2 or more per hour'. That's going to make a night out on Dickson quite a bit more expensive and I fear it could hurt business. Of course it is better than the towing system in place now. How much is too much to charge? It's a very fine line. Hopefully Lioneld will see to it that the City discloses all of the details of the plan so that it can be evaluated objectively by the citizens of Fayetteville before it is implemented.

[zman9810]

I saw that it was reported that Dumas had spoke only to the owners of the private lots in the area and not to anyone else. That may have been a case of him seeing the writing on the wall concerning his own situation and he wanted to get the plan as far forward as he could while he could. It is something to work with and I hope Jordan doesn't just completely dismiss it because his people weren't involved in creating it.

One thing that deeply concerns me about Jordan is that when the question of the Walton Arts Center main facility location came up in a debate his only answer was that it was up to the Walton family. Ity gave me the impression that he wasn't for keeping the main facilty in Fayetteville but didn't come right out and say it. After all, the expansion of the WAC will require some major changes in the Dickson Street landscape. The larger theater will be a tall building and block the view of Old Main from some angles. It will require a multistory parking deck that will mean changes to the area. I would like to hear a clear statement of support from Jordan for the major expansion of the WAC on Dickson and the other changes that it will entail. This might be better put in the WAC topic but because parking is a big part of the location decision I'll leave it here.

[marmot]

Keeping the WAC in F'ville/on Dickson should a top, if not THE top, economic priority for the new administration. To dismiss the issue would be infinitely ignorant and shortsighted for the city.

[Mith242]

While we're on the subject of parking in central Fayetteville I thought I'd post some pics of the Central United Methodist parking garage just north of the Post Office on Dickson St. It's been completed for a while but I never got around to taking any pictures of it, so I finally did. The last two pics are some views from the 4 level parking garage. (The sun was working against me on that last one.)

[butttrumpet]

CUMC's garage is nice. It seems like it didn't take long for it to be built, either.