|
Source
$1.50 - Doubling downtown parking meter fees proposed Hold on to your quarters, Tempe drivers. You soon may need more of them to park in the downtown district. Rates at parking meters are soon likely to double to $1.50 an hour. The organization that manages them says it's a necessary increase in order to keep up with parking fee hikes at Arizona State University. The parking meters are managed by the Downtown Tempe Community, a merchant, business and property owner advocacy group for people and companies with stakes in the downtown area. The last time the DTC raised the rate, with City Council approval, was 1996. Meanwhile, ASU has doubled or tripled the cost to park on campus while decreasing the number of spaces. ASU meters cost $1.50 for an hour. They were raised to that rate from a dollar an hour in July 2005, said David Argabright, an ASU spokesman. Meanwhile, it costs 75 cents to park for an hour at meters on Tempe land. Leaders at the DTC said a study they commissioned was combined with a poll by ASU that showed that although an estimated 35,000 vehicles travel to the Tempe campus each day, there are slightly more than 9,000 decal parking spots. It proved that many of Tempe's parking ills are because of ASU students and staff overflow. "We want them (the ASU community) to be here, use the downtown and consider it their downtown, but we need to make sure the parking spaces are being used appropriately," said Chris Wilson, DTC vice president of operations. Reaction by residents to the change was mixed. "So it costs more to park than it does to buy gum?" said Steve Johnson, an Arizona State University student. "That's stupid." Rajani Chirravuri, a city employee who works in the information technology department, said it could make her less likely to visit downtown Tempe for anything other than work. "I would love to eat at the nice places here, but I don't come on weekends because of the parking," she said while taking a break from work to get a midmorning snack. "It doesn't seem all that high, but coming and parking with my two children doesn't sound like fun, especially if it's more expensive." The City Council will decide whether to approve the rate increase at a yet-to-be scheduled meeting. Meanwhile, other possible changes are on the table for parking downtown. These changes are up for study but could come before the council soon. They include: • Creating a five-minute grace period for the meters. • Making a tiered parking ticket fine structure. For example, if a ticket is paid on the same day it's issued, it could cost $10. Payment within seven days could be $15, while payment within 14 days would be the full $28. • Changing time limits of meters so they are longer in places with less demand to make it more enticing to park there, and shorter along streets where meters are used frequently. |