Columbus’ ‘big small town’ mentality part of the uptown parking meter debate, officials say

At the end of a public input meeting Thursday at the Civic Center to discuss the possibility of parking meters being installed in the uptown area, Mayor Skip Henderson said he had “not a clue” what to do about the situation.

“I really don’t have a clue what to do about it,” he said. “I think that it’s not so much a parking problem and it’s not a parking issue; we’re not going to find a parking solution. It’s parking management.”

He said Columbus is a “very big small town” of people who love being able to park at the door of a business.

But that mentality was the root of discussion at the meeting, where city officials, councilors, uptown business owners and concerned citizens gathered to try to make sense of what impact parking meters could have and how they could best be implemented.

Even though parking meters in the city were eliminated some years ago, the idea of bringing the system back has continued to be a topic of discussion, especially as the area has continued to grow and develop. In February 2019, uptown business owners told the Ledger-Enquirer that customers had complained about not being able to find parking and the subsequent decrease in sales, while employees complained about harsh enforcement and $40 tickets that double in cost if not paid within 10 days.

An internal audit report of the METRA department, which manages the uptown parking enforcement area, was presented to council in September and reignited the council’s interest in installing meters.

The audit stated the current parking system causes harm to uptown businesses and their patrons. The source of the conflict is employees, city staff have said, who often park in front of the businesses they work at instead of in one of the area’s free parking decks, essentially taking away parking options for potential patrons of the businesses and causing them to shop elsewhere.

The downtown parking area goes from Bay Avenue to Third Avenue and from Ninth Street to 14th Street. On-street parking encompasses 1,634 total spaces where time zones are enforced.

At the meeting Thursday, several people voiced concerns about parking meters, stating they could negatively impact the elderly, disabled or low-income, or wouldn’t be enough to discourage employees parking on-street, especially if the meters could be paid with a smartphone app.

One of the owners of Jimmy’s Jewelers on Broadway said they have a lot of elderly patrons who come in to drop off repairs or come in for a watch battery, and who often complain that paying $8 for some services is too much.

“A lot of them can’t hardly walk to get in there, they’re having a hard time, and then they’ve already expressed to us ‘we can’t come back here if y’all start charging for parking,’” she said. “And some of them are only in there 10 minutes.”

Some suggested uptown businesses could be able to validate parking for customers running a quick errand, and others said maybe a downtown shuttle service could help keep cars off the streets.

One person said they didn’t understand why Columbus doesn’t have parking meters.

“I’ve never seen another city of this size that doesn’t have parking meters. I think some of it is just breaking the habit and breaking people of that thought that you can just park straight in front of a business: that’s not normal. This is the only place I’ve seen where people think that is a normal occurrence.”

District 9 councilor Judy Thomas said at the meeting she wanted to make sure everyone knows that no decision has been made by council yet concerning parking meters.

Deputy City Manager Lisa Goodwin said a committee established to study parking meter implementation will be making a recommendation to council in March. The city will be putting together a Request for Proposals to “take a look at what’s out there” and determine what the cost could be, she said.

“We’re going to compile all of your comments and take that back and the committee will look at that along with the evaluation of the RFP that we get back and then we will talk to council and see where we go from there,” Goodwin said.

If implemented, the meters would be operated and maintained by the city, she said.

A paper survey was passed out at the end of the meeting and citizens are encouraged to call 311 to leave comments and concerns about parking meters.