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Last month it was announced that parking meters throughout the urban core of Columbus were being considered for a 50% rate hike. Randy Bowman, the Administrator of the city’s Division of Mobility Options within the Department of Public Service gave a surprise presentation to a select group of city officials detailing the meter rate hikes throughout Downtown, The Short North, and German Village. The announcement also included extended meter enforcement hours in the Short North from 6pm to 9pm, and the addition of 1,800 new parking meters to be added to currently meterless areas in the city.
A second private meeting took place on Monday to announce that this plan is moving forward and the meter rate changes should start taking effect on November 30th. City Council is not required to vote on these updates, so no public meetings will be held, and no public input will be gathered during this process.
The new meter rate increases are expected to generate an additional $1.4 million annually, which initially will be going towards funding reserve bonds for the development of the new Downtown Hilton Hotel at the Convention Center. City officials are stating that eventually these funds could also be used for upgrading existing meter technology to accept credit cards.
Randy J. Bowman, Administrator of the Division of Mobility Options can be reached at 614.645.2464 or rjbowman@columbus.gov.
Because it’s pertinent to the discussion, and reflective of my opinions on the change. Here’s a recent letter sent from the SNBA to the city regarding the proposal as it stands.
“Mike and Randy -
Thank you for the briefing. Though it was exo facto, it was good to at least know what is coming and when. After digesting the information, I am compelled to make a plea that the rates in the Short North not be changed.
From the presentation, the goal is to increase parking revenues 50% across the board. By making other changes, including some selective meter rate changes, the Short North can increase its contributions to the city by 100% (double what other areas would bring to the table).
The city can achieve its revenue goals in the Short North merely by:
1) extending the active hours of the meters.
As an example, the 12-hour meters on Park Street (one block from the heart of the shopping and dining) are rated at 5 hours for $1. No joke. 75 minutes for a quarter.
The Short North has four meter rates:
15 minutes per quarter at Martini Modern Italian
25 minutes per quarter at Hyde Park Steakhouse
30 minutes per quarter at GrandView Mercantile
75 minutes per quarter on Park Street
If they are all made standard at 25 minutes per quarter, there would be an across-the-board gain.
If our meter times are extended AND our rates are increased 50%, our visitors and residents will be contributing nearly 200% more than they are now paying over the course of a day (see calculations below)… whereas the city is only looking for a 50% increase. Conversely, other effected areas such as downtown will only be paying 50% more over the course of a day. Additionally, since the Short North would be moving toward metered parking at night, and the city’s downtown hours are not changing whatsoever, it puts the Short North at a disadvantage. A person deciding to come to the Short North will have to pay considerably more to park, while they could go downtown and park for free. This is an unfair incentive if the rates are increased to the point being discussed.
Net: It is too aggressive a change to hit the Short North with both rate increases AND extended hours. Of note, the community is asking for the extended hours. We need the extended hours to help address parking issues. We do not need the rate increases to address those issues… in fact, the rate increases on top of extended hours could be detrimental.
Can we talk about achieving the city’s goals and meeting our merchant’s needs by extending the meter hours in the Short North versus raising the rates? As the holiday season approaches and we struggle with the effects of the recession, it is vital that we give the businesses a fair shot at surviving. Doubling parking revenue while addressing parking issues seems to be a reasonable plan.
Thank you.
John
Sample calculation of meter revenue from the Short North:
Assume that a meter is occupied 40% of the time from 9:00AM – 6:00 PM
9 hours x 60¢ per hour x 40% yields $2.16 average per day
Assume that a meter is occupied 100% of the time from 6:00 PM to 9:00PM
3 hours x 60¢ per hour that yields $1.80 new revenue per day
Simply by extending the hours, the revenue has nearly doubled to $3.96.
If we increase the rates 50%, the $2.16 becomes $3.24 during the day.
If we increase the rates 50% AND extend the hours, the evening revenue increases to $2.70
Today a meter generates $2.16 from 9:00AM until 6:00PM
With rate changes and hour changes, the meter generates $5.96
That is 175% more than the revenue currently generated…
over three times the city’s goal of a 50% increase.
This only takes into consideration the extended hours and sample rate change at a
meter than is rated at 25 minutes for a quarter. This does not take into account switching meters that are at 30 minutes per quarter or the 75 minutes per quarter. Factoring in these changes, the Short North’s increase in parking revenue would be over 200%.”
+1 to JoeV
It doesn’t make sense to raise rates city-wide or even across all of downtown. Each street is different. The hours and rates need to determined on a case-by-case basis.
To be fair, Park Street is along Goodale Park and I think the intention of lower rates is to allow people to enjoy that public amenity as opposed to more commericial uses.
Walker says;”I agree with Tenzo on this”
Holly Carp! I didn’t hold any confidence in the Mayan calendar heralding the end of the world, but this sure is a true indicator.
I remember reading…somewhere.. way back; that if you wanted to speak before the city council all you had to do was register your topic and comments and you could speak on a Tuesday at some designated time.
Was I tripping on mushrooms one night or is this true? I mean it’s one thing to type out snarky remarks from the anonymity of the Internet, posting under a person’s pet’s name. I’d like to call “Shenanigans” on this idea and demand an appropriate response.
Since I’ve been here (a very short time) I’ve seen nothing but tax increases and city services decrease. And as I’ve told people; “If you don’t like the way things are going, it’s your responsibility to bring it up. You can’t just sit back and bitch about stuff and not do anything”
So how do I get on the agenda?
A major concern of mine is the “1,800 new meters” to be placed in currently unmetered areas.
I for one live at the north end of the Short North (just south of High and 5th), and am not fortunate enough to have off-street parking. My only option then is to park in the public lot next to Skully’s (where I cannot leave any items in my car for fear of it being broken into, and cannot walk to my front door from my car without being panhandled for money), or to park a few blocks west near Thompson Recreation Center. If this lot becomes metered, I have no idea what I would do about simply parking at my residence.
Well, city leaders botch it again with Downtown revitalization efforts. Obviously, they didn’t bother to read this book by Donald Shoup who is a professor of Urbanism at UCLA and has a Ph.D in Economics from Yale, but why listen to his crazy ramblings?
Anyway, this is great for neighborhoods just outside of Downtown to attract businesses instead. Franklinton is right next door, there is on-street parking with no meters, and there are plenty of urban retail spaces where rent is cheaper. W Broad really isn’t nearly as bad as people think and it would be very walkable if there were more to walk to. Just take a look for yourself
And did I mention there’s plenty of free parking?
This decision unfortunately shows a basic lack of understanding about how consumers make decisions and comes at a very poor time. The consumer is tightening like we haven’t seen in two generations. Thrift is in and retail sales are down everywhere.
Mike Brown Says: Higher rates also encourage more use of alternative transportation.
is the crux of the problem and may be the source of the city’s lack of understanding apparently.
All Higher rates do is discourage transportation to that area by car.
Yes a good % will continue to come by car and pay higher fees and maybe a few will choose to ride the COTA or bike but most people who change their behavior will simply choose to shop and eat elsewhere. This change will result in a net loss for most retail businesses.
Downtown business have no god given right to foottraffic. People can easily go elsewhere in this city. There is little cost, opportunity or travel barrier.
The reality is there are a plethora of close shopping destinations to downtown that have “free” parking. Retail is a competitive game, all this raise does is put all downtown retail at a further competitive disadvantage.
We may not like all the indirect costs associated with “free” parking but the fact of the matter is the majority consumer makes decisions based on direct out of pocket costs. I’ve seen very few consumers make shopping decisions based on calculating externalities like “free”parking.
Conversely I can’t tell you how many of my customers over the years have apologized to me that they don’t want to shop downtown anymore because parking is too tough and expensive.
I’ve never had any of those people say they will come by COTA instead. They usually say they will go somewhere else where there’s free parking.
You may not like it, I may not like it, but the consumer has all the power here. And over the years they have consistently proven with the wallets over and over again that they prefer “free” and easy parking. Paying meters is not cheap and it’s a pain. This makes it worse.
No one is saying these projects pay for themselves, but most retailers would prefer to pay in a less direct way so we can shield our customers from it.
If the city wants more retail and restaurants downtown, this is not the way to get it. Please read Tenzo’s post, that is an accurate portrayal how most shoppers think.
Please reconsider this very shortsighted decision
columbusite said
“Anyway, this is great for neighborhoods just outside of Downtown to attract businesses instead. Franklinton is right next door, there is on-street parking with no meters, and there are plenty of urban retail spaces where rent is cheaper. W Broad really isn’t nearly as bad as people think and it would be very walkable if there were more to walk to. Just take a look for yourself”
Too bad this addresses the symptoms and not the disease. By the time they start revitalizing the area, the Parking Authority would already have sprouted meters like daisies on its grave….
Tenzo Says: Holly Carp! I didn’t hold any confidence in the Mayan calendar heralding the end of the world, but this sure is a true indicator.
Ha! Come now, I’m sure we’ve agreed on other things before. I mean… neither of us are OSU fans. So that makes two things. ;)
Tenzo Says: I remember reading…somewhere.. way back; that if you wanted to speak before the city council all you had to do was register your topic and comments and you could speak on a Tuesday at some designated time.
City Hall Meetings are Monday nights, but yes, that is true. Additional details on speaking at Council can be found here.
Keep in mind though, that City Council has no official say on this plan. As Mike Brown pointed out, it’s an administrative function of the Department of Public Service, and doesn’t require the regular public hearings and legislative process with City Council. Which is why I included Randy Bowman’s contact information up top, if you’d like to get in touch with the folks who are overseeing the process of these meter hikes.
I heard a little birdie say that the reason they took out the credit card meters was because people were too efficient at paying. Translation: the city of Columbus wasn’t making any money off of parking violations. It’s already 25 cents for 10 minutes on Gay Street. Bastards!!!!
Columbusite Says: Anyway, this is great for neighborhoods just outside of Downtown to attract businesses instead. Franklinton is right next door, there is on-street parking with no meters, and there are plenty of urban retail spaces where rent is cheaper.
The plan includes the addition of 1,800 new meters to areas that are currently un-metered. It sounds as if they’ll be filling in currently un-metered areas throughout Downtown, such as areas around CSCC & CCAD, and I have to imagine they’ll have plenty of meters left over to push further into retail corridors in Franklinton, OTE, KLD, Parsons, and maybe even Clintonville. That growing retail cluster just south of High & North Broadway is ripe for meter revenue, right?
So this might not be quite as good of news for those areas as you might think. It’s really only good news for Easton and Polaris. Even though those properties are located within Columbus City Limits you can be guaranteed that they won’t be getting any new city parking meters out there. That would be totally absurd, wouldn’t it?
Trixie Says: I heard a little birdie say that the reason they took out the credit card meters was because people were too efficient at paying.
False. The credit card meters were on loan for testing/evaluation purposes only. My understanding is that the more recent ones on Gay Street performed a lot better than the earlier ones tested out in the Short North, and that’s probably what we’re going to be getting system-wide in 2012 as Mike Brown stated on page 1 of this discussion.
In my mind, parking meters are for one thing and one thing only. Ensuring a reasonable turnover in parking availability for commerical portions of a district. I don’t see how the plan could at all be considered “reasonable”. And if they end up killing the goose by discouraging customers, they’ll only have less money to boot.
I think the city should, like Chicago, contract out the parking meters/enforcement to a private company. Let them invest their capital in upgrading the meters and just set reasonable regulation as to what the contractor can do regarding rate increases. I’ll say that my recent trip to Chicago and dealing with the 1-per-block meter kiosks was a vast improvement over individual meter heads. I found it cleans up the sidewalk scape immensely.
In the era of tightening budgets, I don’t see how this could be anything less than a win-win for the city. Offload the budgetary pressure of a parking enforcement department and collect a check in return.
Sent my thoughts on this matter to Mr Bowman. I urge everyone with an opinion on this to do likewise.
Just sent my opinion too. I strongly disagree with this decision.
It’s about 10:45 at night, I was walking down High Street and I just told a visitor to the Short North that they don’t have to feed the meter. They were feeding it right on High.
There’s no way this visitor could even read the signage or meter itself to determine when they should be paying. Confusion.
I encounter this scenario at least 5 times a week.
DOWNTOWN!! — OH YEAA-AAH!! — Can’t wait –Shove $2.50 in a meter, come back 2 minutes late to greet a TRAFFIC NAZI POUNCING on my Errant Car…OH MAN — it is so much more exciting than parking on a street in Worthington, Dublin, New Albany…it is too easy and peaceful there. WELL, they need it — you didn’t pass their big tax increase —WHAT? –you DID!?!?..
. . . .OH, YEA.., I remember all you admonishing me for opposing that….
WHAT COLUMBUS NEEDS: A NEW CHARTER — A NEW CITY/COUNTY GOVERNMENT, throw the trash out of City Hall.*
*Been to Indianapolis lately??
–Oh, and: Remember the pair of City Employees who were pocketing the money? There was NO accounting system for the cash cow….
Mike Brown? He sounds like a pointy-headed City Government Employee-is he?
Walker sez; Keep in mind though, that City Council has no official say on this plan.
I never let reason get in the way of a good rant.
Tenzo Says: I never let reason get in the way of a good rant.
Actually, I just heard tonight that while City Council has no vote on the meter hike, they do have a vote on how the newly collected money is used. I’ll post more on that when I get more details.
Let us know what day you head to City Hall though, if you do. I’d get a kick out of watching the live stream on the web and looking for the guy with the “dog backpack” on. ;)