The Fayetteville City Council is expected hear recommendations for changes to the paid parking program on Tuesday.
“We’ll have a full presentation,” Fayetteville Chief of Staff Don Marr said last week. “We’re tracking weekly parking revenue, citation revenue, transactions, and projected transactions.”
The presentation is the culmination of a planned three-month evaluation of paid parking in the Dickson Street area.
After the presentation, council members will likely begin a discussion and possibly vote on a handful of amendments brought forth by Marr and his staff.
Also expected Tuesday night are comments from the Downtown Dickson Save Our Street Society, a group of business owners who say paid parking is killing business on Dickson Street. The group last week announced its formation, its beliefs and its first agenda item – challenging paid parking.
“We want our streets back,” said Neal Crawford, owner of Jose’s Mexican Restaurant and spokesman for the group. “The main thing is, though, we want our customers back.”
The council meeting begins at 6 p.m. inside Fayetteville City Hall at 113 West Mountain Street.
» View the council meeting agenda
Everyone needs to show up to this town hall meeting and show support to end the paid parking on Dickson Street now that the wac expansion is going to Bentonville.
The citizens of Fayetteville should not be the ones bailing out city officials messing up on their budget for the city of Fayetteville .
I think that it would be valuable if business owners could bring revenue comparisons of the three months prior to and following paid parking was implemented both from this year and the same period last year. From this information you should be able to isolate the effects of changes in revenue due to customer reaction to parking from seasonal factors and the general economic trend. Exact numbers can be shield by using percentage difference from a baseline if someone doesn’t feel comfortable sharing their exact revenue values (I probably wouldn’t).
I would also expect the city to explain not just what the parking revenues are, but exactly how they will be spent. From the information above I also assume they’ll present equipment costs and expected date of paying them off. I think it would be valuable if they would divide the equipment costs of the on-street system vs. the gated lot systems, as well as the relative revenues of each.
Let’s not forget the cost of maintaining the workforce needed to monitor the parking spaces and gated lots.
If, in fact, the city officials messed up the budget what is the solution to fixing it, SOS? You say the citizens shouldn’t have to pay for the city officials’ mistake so who should pay for it? Is it your thought the city officials should plug the budget gaps with their own money? That’s assanine and I am sure it’s not what you expect them to do because it’s also unrealistic. What is your solution for funding the budget?
Suspend non-essential services, curtail spending on frivolous items, etc.
This meeting is about the fate of paid parking. It’s simply not needed nor wanted. The most consistent refrain I’ve heard from those in favor of paid parking is “stop complaining”. Why? Who wants it? And for what? It certainly isn’t needed at the current time. If you’re in favor of paid parking, I’d certainly like to know why. I loved that bit in the Free Weekly where Bruce Walker said Neal Crawford found over 1800 old-style coin-op meters for $50,000 in a matter of minutes on the internet. We’re on the hook for close to $900,000 for this current system. Parking meters aren’t pretty but they’re cheap, they work and when they don’t work, the driver isn’t set up for a ticket. Anyway, it’s beyond that. It’s got a negative rep now. You can’t just keep saying BS through your teeth (Marr) and hope people go “oh, okay…we’re just a bunch of idiots.” I still say suspend the whole thing or make some serious tweaks that reflect something more reasonable (like Block St. was). In my opinion, there should never, ever be paid parking actually ON Dickson St.
yep. one would’ve thought the underwood lot wouldn’t been a significant sign that paid parking is full of fail. They can’t even get residents, ha.
If the city wants to build a parking garage, why don’t they put together a bond package supported by sales tax and let the voters decide?
Put it in the next big transportation funding bond issue and lets vote on it. Put a few other things in there that a lot of people would like to see happen, like burying those power lines across Dickson and more improvements to North College Avenue.
This might be five or ten years down the road.
Just a thought.
This is an excellent idea.
I see where you’re going but Dickson Street already has at least 3 parking decks within walking distance, one of which is brand spanking new (i wonder if he is losing revenue too).
This could easily be done but the will of the city government was to spend money on unnecessary equipment, probably pocketing some favors on the side.
I have to add my voice to this; I believe that the city should be acting in cooperation with business owners in the entertainment district. We have enacted taxes for restaurant and hotel establishments, we have tourism councils and budgets set up to encourage tourism and business in our downtown areas. This new parking plan “punishes” patrons that are coming out to support the entertainment and businesses in the area. It is difficult to find the pay boxes, the numbers are often remembered wrong, when it’s cold you have to go back and forth to the car, often people have to park far away because of the reserved for residential spaces, it is a real hassle, makes people late, and many friends that I have talked to hate it and now avoid even going out because of this insane punitive plan! Cooperation with city, patrons, and businesses really should be in the forefront of planning! We should encourage patrons to come out and engage with the community, not make it difficult and punish then if they get it wrong. Parking should be free and easy for the entertainment hours specifically!
Imagine Dickson St. without the Dickson St. Used Bookstore, or Flying Possum Leather, just a plastic bunch of high rent bars and cafes and empty high-rise condo failures. I’ve known visitors from all over the U.S. who marveled at our world-class used bookstore, and spent hours there. Another sushi place isn’t worth spit compared to 2 minutes talking with Bruce and buying his lovingly handmade goods. We are truly killing the goose here, chasing an arts center improvement most can’t afford to even attend now. We need some serious common sense coming to bear, and we need to preserve what really makes Dickson St. unique and great. We need character, and backbone.
Paid parking punishes the residents. Insane. Hotel taxes are used to hit visitors. Instead, re: parking, we let our (so-called) huge draw (biker events) off the hook? A supposed 350,000+ people visit, and we don’t charge them for parking? Instead we donate services?
::Confused::
I guess they don’t want the parking enforcers to get a cramped wrist from writing 4-5 tickets per space at a time =).