Parking in downtown Jackson will be changing in a big way this summer.
After decades of limited free parking, funded by an assessment on business owners, parking meters are expected to be installed and operating by July, according to city engineer Troy White.
“We’re moving from an assessment-funded, meter-less parking system to a pay-to-park system,” White said, “The funding is being shifted from assessments to business owners downtown to the parkers. The people who park on the street will be paying for their parking.”
White says he thinks the metered-parking plan will be good for the city.
“It takes the burden off the property owners, and if it generates more revenue, then that will provide some more maintenance and a parking system that’s in better condition,” he said.
But Steve Shotwell, the chair of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners and owner of Miller Shoe Parlor in Jackson, thinks charging people to park downtown is a mistake. He worries it will discourage shoppers.
“The problem is you’re putting the onus directly on the customer to start with even before they make a decision to go shopping," Shotwell said.
He says instead of deciding to install parking meters, the city should have fixed problems with the current parking system including the issue of what he calls “chronic rollers.”
“People who move their cars every two hours,” Shotwell explained. “And instead of figuring out a way to solve that problem, the city’s decided that they’re going to collect revenue on these people.”
The base rate for the new system will be $2 an hour. Monthly parking permits for designated parking lots will still be available.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.