For years now the parking meters in Downtown Crawfordsville have been controversial. There have been two distinct perspectives on the meter situation.
The first argument is that having the parking meters, under the hawking eye of the local meter maids, only deters shoppers from coming downtown to the stores. I do agree that many traditional retail establishments are no longer downtown, but even the service businesses have walk in traffic weather its is an art gallery, a lawyer or a newspaper. I must admit that it is very annoying to get a ticket when you have already plugged the meter and the timer ticks over only a few minutes before you get back to you car and you have been nailed. (I am aware that several of the downtown merchants often pay the fine for some of the people who have shopped their store as a thank you for the patronage. I commend them for taking that step.)
The second argument is, if the meters were removed many of the employees of the downtown businesses and local government would then take up the parking spaces. Consequently, there would be no spaces available for those shoppers who did want to shop downtown. I also as understand this perspective, because I am an owner of a downtown business and have witnessed employees of other establishments parking on the street (by the way, they make it a point to park in front of our store, not their own). They plugged the meter with their dimes. Then like clockwork, two hours later, they returned to their cars only to pull up one or two spaces and plug the meter again.
Recently I have even herd the suggestion that people should be able to buy tags to indicate to the meter maids that they have prepaid their parking toll and should be exempt from future tickets. As I see it this is another band-aid solution the real issues. What is the real problem? The problem is there simply is not enough available parking in the downtown area and some people are just too lazy to walk more that a couple of blocks to work.
I see the solution as a two-step approach. STEP 1 - The city should seriously consider buying a property near the downtown area and putting up a multi-level parking garage? Then downtown business employees (or people who live downtown) can purchase a monthly pass to the parking garage and get off of the street. People would have a place to park and yet the city will continue to generate enough revenue to pay for the garage. STEP 2 ? The city should remove the meters and let shoppers park their cars in a downtown space for free within a two-hour limit. However, if someone exceeds the limit then make the penalty worth the violation. Make the ticket ten or twenty bucks. The current penalty for a violation is 50 cents. Most people feel that fifty cents is more than worth the convenience of a prime spot. If they pay a higher fine they won?t abuse the law very often and will soon discover that it is much better to buy a spot in a parking garage.
Haven?t other cities had the same predicament? Surely a community similar to ours somewhere has solved this problem. Have the city officials tried to locate another community to find out how they resolved this issue?
Well this is just my opinion and I am just one person, but I would love to hear other ideas about how this situation can be resolved.
The first argument is that having the parking meters, under the hawking eye of the local meter maids, only deters shoppers from coming downtown to the stores. I do agree that many traditional retail establishments are no longer downtown, but even the service businesses have walk in traffic weather its is an art gallery, a lawyer or a newspaper. I must admit that it is very annoying to get a ticket when you have already plugged the meter and the timer ticks over only a few minutes before you get back to you car and you have been nailed. (I am aware that several of the downtown merchants often pay the fine for some of the people who have shopped their store as a thank you for the patronage. I commend them for taking that step.)
The second argument is, if the meters were removed many of the employees of the downtown businesses and local government would then take up the parking spaces. Consequently, there would be no spaces available for those shoppers who did want to shop downtown. I also as understand this perspective, because I am an owner of a downtown business and have witnessed employees of other establishments parking on the street (by the way, they make it a point to park in front of our store, not their own). They plugged the meter with their dimes. Then like clockwork, two hours later, they returned to their cars only to pull up one or two spaces and plug the meter again.
Recently I have even herd the suggestion that people should be able to buy tags to indicate to the meter maids that they have prepaid their parking toll and should be exempt from future tickets. As I see it this is another band-aid solution the real issues. What is the real problem? The problem is there simply is not enough available parking in the downtown area and some people are just too lazy to walk more that a couple of blocks to work.
I see the solution as a two-step approach. STEP 1 - The city should seriously consider buying a property near the downtown area and putting up a multi-level parking garage? Then downtown business employees (or people who live downtown) can purchase a monthly pass to the parking garage and get off of the street. People would have a place to park and yet the city will continue to generate enough revenue to pay for the garage. STEP 2 ? The city should remove the meters and let shoppers park their cars in a downtown space for free within a two-hour limit. However, if someone exceeds the limit then make the penalty worth the violation. Make the ticket ten or twenty bucks. The current penalty for a violation is 50 cents. Most people feel that fifty cents is more than worth the convenience of a prime spot. If they pay a higher fine they won?t abuse the law very often and will soon discover that it is much better to buy a spot in a parking garage.
Haven?t other cities had the same predicament? Surely a community similar to ours somewhere has solved this problem. Have the city officials tried to locate another community to find out how they resolved this issue?
Well this is just my opinion and I am just one person, but I would love to hear other ideas about how this situation can be resolved.
