Complaints about a shortage of quarters prompted the City Council to temporarily lower the price of parking in Old Town even though it will cost the city $300,000 over five months.
The cost of metered parking will drop from the current $1.75 an hour to $1.25 until April, when the city plans to install a new, easier-to-use parking system and increases the rate back to $1.75.
Businesses and residents have been complaining about the high price of parking in Old Town since the City Council voted in July to raise the price from $1 and $1.25 an hour to the current $1.75.
Shoppers griped that they can’t carry enough quarters to park their cars, and businesses fumed that they’ve become mini-banks, required to constantly make change for their flummoxed customers.
It isn’t just the price that’s problematic, said Norman Bradford, owner of King Jewelry on King Street. It’s all the quarters people need to plug the meters.
“If you want to park for two hours, that’s 14 quarters!” Bradford said. “Who’s going to carry around that many quarters in their pocket?”
Council members agreed and voted to scale back the meter rate to $1.25 per hour until the city can install multispace meters that offer several payment options, most likely to include credit or debit cards, and eliminate the need for a pocketful of quarters.
The exception will be the Carlyle area south of Duke Street, which already has multispace meters and will maintain its $1.75 hourly rate.
City officials expect the meter replacement to be complete in April 2011, at which time the rate of $1.75 will be re-established.
By April, the city will lose $324,000 in parking meter revenue, officials said. Mayor Bill Euille pushed the council to lower the rate even further to $1, but the council balked at the potential loss of another $162,000 in meter fees.
“I feel like we’re jerking people around, and that’s what I hate to see,” Euille said. “People are accustomed to the $1 rate.”
Anna Fitzgerald, owner of the Dog Park on King Street, agrees that the changes are confusing to her customers. Some of her customers won’t come back once the rates rise again, even with better meters, she said.
“There’s people who have conversations in my store on a weekly basis who say, right in front of me, ‘I’m not coming to Old Town as much,’ ” she said.
