The A&P can promote Dickson all day long. The sort of promote it as part of a larger promotion of the city and surrounding area. It seems like their hotel/restaurant taxes could be used for downtown improvements. I think there is wording in those tax documents that the collections have to be used for things primarily utilized by out-of-towners or to attract more visitors. That was the logic behind the Town Center. The Town Center bonds are sucking up all their revenue currently. I don’t think that was really a great investment. It seems like they are going to focus on fixing up MLK from the bypass to School Ave, kind of like how College Ave has been revamped. I heard something about that a while back but I haven’t heard anything recently.

I think reasonable, small fees for parking during the day make sense. The on-campus garages and parking passes are pretty danged high. I could see students paying to park on Dickson if the fees were half of what they get charged on campus. Take away the two-hour limit on parking before 6 pm, and trade that in for small parking fees. Maybe make the parking spaces further off Dickson, and not likely to be used by in-and-out lunch patrons could maintain the 2-hour limit.

The guys currently buzzing around making sure no one overstays the parking spaces could monitor that.

Spring Street is already full of cars later evenings just about every weekend. It wasn’t like this just 5 years ago.

We really need a public garage or two, preferably with retail fronts hiding them away. The only way to get it without a tax increase is for the city to get a new revenue stream.

Now if the WAC lot wasn’t full just about every single weekend, I wouldn’t say now is the right time. As it stands, parking demand seems to be at an all-time high on Dickson.

I hope the city focuses on the city’s needs more than they appear to be right now.

I hope this “turning it over the WAC” idea isn’t a way for our mayor to avoid taking a stand on this idea that he seemed to oppose during the election.

The pay lots are empty most of the time right now because there is ample free parking. Why pay for something you can get free right down the block?

Once the big city lots go pay, those street spots you refer to may become really valuable to a few, but the pay lots won’t remain empty.

I suppose the city could screw up by charging too much for parking, like those other pay lots do now.

If the fees are kept reasonable, I’m talking 50 cents to $1 per hr, it shouldn’t be a problem.

My point about paid parking downtown is this: Once you start charging for parking, EVERYONE will move to the street spots that are free. The paid spots will only be used as a last resort. Street parking downtown is more than a PITA now and it will only get worse with all the lots downtown charging and forcing the capacity of those lots onto the street. Take all those cars that the lots hold and fill up the street spots with them. Now how far away are you going to park and walk to dickson st? So now we’ll have overcrowded streets with no parking and a giant empty lot with a few cars in it. That benefits everyone right? Everyone being the WAC ;)

It’s enough of a PITA to go to the city admin building and have to pay to park so I can run in and do something there. I rarely carry cash, let alone change.

And I really like the suggestion to get drunk and ride your bike, that’s full of win!

Keep the parking fees low. If the spaces stay full, bump the fees slightly. If they don’t stay full, lower them. Find the happy medium that keeps people downtown and maximizes revenues without hurting business.

I generally park up on Block Ave and walk down to Dickson from there. It doesn’t bother me at all, and there’s almost always an open spot.

Heck, you can’t even park in downtown Fort Smith without paying a meter. You can’t park on campus at U of A without paying a meter or a garage. Those rates are high, though, if you ask me.

I like the idea of a centralized meter system, and one that is reasonably priced. 50 cents an hour sounds very reasonable to me. That shouldn’t discourage anyone. Heck, it might even encourage those starving college students to carpool to Dickson, rather than keep them away altogether. More people in fewer cars.

Start small. Stick some money back.

Put it in writing that the funds can only be used to improve the Dickson area. Make the public aware via signage at the pay meters what their parking fees will pay for.

Figure out the amortization on a decent-sized parking garage. Consider a mixed use structure with retail fronts. Factor in renting that space to private business. Perhaps grant that space to new entrepreneurs or creative businesses. Further increase the critical mass of unique businesses and destinations downtown.

Funds could even be considered for alternative transportation like a campus to The Sqaure trolley.

Making idle threats about being pissed off about not having a free parking space to leave your car overnight doesn’t help this city move forward. Look at the bigger picture. It wouldn’t be for profit. It would be a contribution towards making Dickson and Fayetteville better for all.

Expecting people to feed a meter for 2-3 bucks for a night downtown isn’t unreasonable.

anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox, but I think making college students pay more fines or to get their car out of tow lots isnt really a progressive stance. the city parking tickets on dickson are annoying enough, I got two in one day the other day and I was there maybe four hours at most. Had I had a street view of my vehicle that wouldnt have happened but I was working in Georges at the time.

I think fayetteville needs more free parking to encourage people to go out, but thats my wild opinion, we already have a huge pay garage and no one even uses it.

I’ve also been investigating more modern metering systems, because part of the argument against metering is the cost for installation. Central metering systems are the way to go, and they are a lot more modern now than what you see in Eureka.

@those who won’t use Dickson any more – I’m sorry, but I think you are bluffing. Maybe the sales tax dollars will prove me wrong, but parking a few blocks away is a perfectly acceptable proposition in any other community. You don’t have a right to park at the door.

That said, you do have a right to expect reasonable fees. The city isn’t a for-profit business, and we aren’t going to approach paid parking as a profit-motivated venture. Any paid parking plan will only be implemented in order to benefit the future of downtown, explicitly.

If you sell the pay parking proposal with actual capital improvement goals in the Dickson Street district, then business and property owners won’t complain about it as much. Longterm improvements need to be discussed, maybe even voted on in priority by property owners and entrepreneurs. Treat it like a TIF, only without the same strings that come with property taxes.

And IMO, leaving one’s car in a city lot overnight should be an “emergency” type situation, not how a person plans his weekend.

If overdrinking is that important, then ride your bike in, ride with a friend, or take Safe Ride. Or, park on a street outside the Dickson area and walk a few blocks.

With budgetary concerns in fayetteville, why is the city even thinking of giving away a piece of property? Wouldn’t the city benefit more from the direct revenue generated by the lot? I’m not seeing how this proposal helps the city in any way shape or form.

Dickson St will most likely say goodbye to any revenue from my pocket, if finding a free spot becomes even more difficult than it is now.

Something like that could be enforced by the city parking guys, and it would be enough to disincentive permanent parkers, while being something reasonable for a person who has had too much to drink to decide “I’m going to catch a ride home, and pick up my car tomorrow, and pay the $25.00 ticket”.

Matt Petty, take some notes brah.

I suppose where there’s leverage from the threat of leaving, and something to be gained, the WAC people would be stupid not to try.

If anything, I would like to see all the spaces metered. Give WAC a smaller lot or two which can be signed as “Reserved During WAC Events”. Sell those spots to patrons along with their tickets.

Maybe allow them to reserve the front row of parking in the big lot via meter covers, like the U of A does for football games.

The rest of the parking lots, the city puts meters but charges a reasonable fee of .50/hr. This leaves the city with a revenue stream, which can be used to float bonds for parking and entertainment district improvements (like burying those godforsaken power lines) and eventually a new parking garage.

Someone needs to step up with a plan that benefits the city and show us a goal from parking fees besides some nebulous pseudo-guarantee that the WAC will stay and expand.

We need a leader.