The Journal Gazette never met a tax hike it didn't like, and the feeling seems to be the same for any source of government revenue, including user fees:
Raise the rates for downtown metered parking, it’s long overdue. Fifty cents is not too much to pay to park for an hour in a prime parking space.
The Board of Public Safety and the Fort Wayne City Council should approve a proposal from the parking enforcement department to double the parking fees at downtown meters from 25 cents to 50 cents an hour.
“To say Fort Wayne has suppressed rates would be an understatement,” said Colin Keeney, the parking enforcement supervisor.
This summer, Keeney did a survey of the parking fees and fines in other Midwest cities similar in size to Fort Wayne, including Toledo, Cleveland, Grand Rapids and Lansing. “Pretty much across the board the rates were $1 an hour,” he said.
The fines were also higher than in Fort Wayne.
Parking illegally at a metered spot garners a $5 ticket with the fine doubling to $10 if it’s not paid within 30 days.
The fines in the surveyed cities were typically $20 to $30.
And that is the only reason given for the increases -- we're so low compared to other Midwestern cities. That's kind of beside the point, isn't it? The questions to answer are what functions parking meters are supposed to serve in downtown Fort Wayne and whether they are fulfilling their purpose. Who cares what Toledo or Grand Rapids are doing?
Meters are easy to be ambivalent about. On the one hand, they keep people who work downtown from tying up spots all day so visitors have trouble finding a spot. On the other hand, they add to the impression that going downtown is a hassle -- why pay to park there when it's free at the mall? Adding to the debate is the common misperception that there is a shortage of parking spots downtown -- there really isn't.
This is the third attempt at raising the rates and fines. The last time around, city officials gave as a reason the need to raise enough money for the department to be self-sufficient. Maintaining the parking meters, in other words, is justification for making the use of them more expensive. The perpetuation of a department is the department's main function. A similar argument is being made by the city this time: If the department brings in more revenue, it can afford the fancy meters with new technology that makes collecting the fees much easiser and more efficient.
Something that should be part of the debate but isn't so far is what effect the higher rates and fines might have on downtown development. The city is on a roll right now with a lot of new visitors downtown and a lot of exitement building. Might this be a momentum killer?
