Downtown parking concerns addressed
REACTION HAS BEEN MIXED TO NEW DOWNTOWN PARKING SYSTEM
The City of Lethbridge, the Downtown BRZ and representatives from downtown business community held a press conference in Festival Square Tuesday morning to address criticisms of the new parking kiosks and the zone parking system in the downtown core.
Andrew Malcolm, downtown revitalization manager for the City of Lethbridge, admitted to being surprised by the early wave of criticism and negativity the changeover had in its first few weeks.
“We are three weeks into the new parking meters, and we have heard a lot of feedback from the public,” he said. “Both positive and negative. We have had a variety of complaints, but I think the number-one complaint was probably in relation to the Zone 2, which is the core of the downtown. And what potential challenges that creates for businesses that have longer than twohour service: restaurants, tattoo parlours, hair salons — that potentially extend past the two-hour limit.”
Malcolm said the City would be taking all the feedback it receives on the new system and will work toward refining it to improve the downtown parking experience for everyone, but, he stressed, the system seems to be functioning well overall.
“A lot of public engagement and thought went into the unrolling of this program, and we don’t want to do a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. “We are allowing the public to have a chance to embrace this change, to get comfortable with this change, but at the same time we will take all that feedback into consideration and review the system.”
One of the business owners who came out to the press conference, Justin Tavernini of O2 Training Centre, said the nature of his fitness business works well with the current two-zone limit in his part of the downtown. He said the lack of 10hour parking spots nearby for his employees was more of a problem.
“The biggest issue is having enough 10-hour zones for staff who work downtown,” he confirmed. “That might be one of the things that needs to be addressed but that might be the only thing (I’ve noticed).”
Tavernini admitted he had heard criticisms of the zoning system from other downtown businesses who offer longer periods of service, but felt it was up to those business owners to lead the way and make a positive situation out of things.
“I think the biggest thing with other business owners is to stay positive with your patrons,” he said. “Downtown Lethbridge isn’t that big. So encourage your patrons to go to a 10-hour zone if you know it is going to be a three-hour meeting or service.”
Downtown BRZ executive director Ted Stilson echoed Tavernini’s comments.
“We have heard about the shortage of 10-hour parking with employees,” he admitted, “but we have also heard there is a lot of 10hour parking available, and the City is working on adding some more spots in the downtown core. The reality is even the ones that have negative views about the (two-hour zone) parking situation, they are in close proximity to three-hour parking and close to 10-hour parking as well.”
Stilson felt the new parking system would prove a boon to all downtown business owners heading into the busy summer retail season ahead.
“I think with the social media and some of the negative things that have been said on social media, there is a lot of positive comments we have heard from many of our business owners. We are also hearing a lot of positive things from not only our (downtown) customers, but also from the business owners and employees in the downtown core.”
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