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City leaders are spreading the word now: Don’t let Tuesday become Ticket Tuesday.
New parking fines and fees for downtown Lawrence are set to take effect on Tuesday. That means parking rates for Massachusetts Street meters will double. A quarter will soon buy you a half-hour when it used to buy you a full hour, a dime will be worth 12 minutes, and a nickel will be worth six minutes.
City Hall leaders have sent letters to all downtown addresses, and they hope that new plates placed on the meters clearly will spell out what the new rates are.
“We think people will pick up on it pretty quickly since it is written right there on the meters,” said Jane Pennington, director of Downtown Lawrence Inc. “I think a lot of people are like me. I can’t ever remember the rates, so I’m always having to look.”
For those looking closely right now, they’ll already notice the change at several locations downtown. City spokeswoman Lisa Patterson said crews have been out since last Wednesday reprogramming the digital parking meters.
So, technically, in many parts of downtown your quarter already is buying you half as much time. But Patterson said city parking attendants aren’t going to be sticklers about the time this week.
“This is our transition period,” Patterson said.
Before you get too excited, though, that doesn’t mean parking attendants won’t be writing some tickets this week. If motorists have clearly over-parked, even using the old rates, they’ll likely be ticketed, Patterson said.
The parking plan — approved by city commissioners earlier this summer — also includes three other major changes. They are:
• The fine for overtime parking at any meter or parking lot downtown will increase to $3, up from $2 currently.
• Hours of parking enforcement will extend to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Currently, enforcement ends at 5 p.m. Enforcement will continue to begin at 9:30 a.m.
• The city will start enforcing a new habitual violator ordinance that will allow the city to charge people who have five or more parking violations within a 30-day period a $50 fine plus court costs.
Comments
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justaverage (anonymous) says…
This should encourage people to shop downtown...not!
bryan (Bryan Wilcox) says…
It looks like they rolled this out a bit early. I parked in a metered spot this morning (Aug. 26) at 9th & Mass. and had to pay a quarter for 30 minutes.
merrill (anonymous) says…
A $3 dollar fine will deter very few just like the $2 dollar fine.
LarryNative (anonymous) says…
.50 an hr? $3.00 for a violation? This is still well short of any other town with a population over 50,000. I had to put $1 in a Topeka meter yesterday for 1 hour. The new additional cost is the same as a gumball from gumball machine. Means nothing to the individual but thousands to the city. Everyone wants to live in a wonderful city but not work or pay for it.
Informed (anonymous) says…
Apparently, bryan, you missed the part in the article where it says that crews have been out for a week already, changing the meters over. That's obviously a job that can't be done with just a flip of a switch and, bam, all the meters have the new rates programmed in.
julienstockwell (anonymous) says…
I'm mostly okay with this other than a) the changeover was made with little notice (until now) and b) the extension until 6 o'clock. I'm alright with paying a meter during the day but not when half of the shops have already closed their doors.
Noweigh (anonymous) says…
I admit to hearing about this change a while ago but not following it closely. Hopefully every downtown merchant vehemently opposed this increase. If not, they have nothing to complain about when shoppers head to the suburbs and malls where there is unlimited free parking, virtually unlimited shopping hours for those who work and prices that are not only competitive but usually lower than downtown. Especially in this economy? Amazing an increase would be considered and not opposed.
Keith (anonymous) says…
Oh boo hoo, I can't afford to pay .50 to park for an hour, but can afford to shop at Starbucks or the Gap or eat at any of the downtown restaurants. Give me a break.
hail2oldku (anonymous) says…
Noweigh (Anonymous) says…
"...they have nothing to complain about when shoppers head to the suburbs....virtually unlimited shopping hours for those who work..."
That portion of your statement would most explain lost revenues by downtown merchants.
BTW though, what are the suburbs of Lawrence? Eudora, Baldwin City and Tongie?
AlligatorMama (anonymous) says…
It's not always about the money - yes I can afford to spend $1, $2, $3 or whatever to park but with children it's a HUGE hassel running back to the meter to make sure it hasn't expired. I can go to Legends, Oak Park or Topeka and shop without worrying about it.
Although there aren't many shops downtown that I care to visit anymore anyway.
zstoltenberg (anonymous) says…
I'm not going to complain about the increased fees but the time thing simply sucks. It was always nice to know that you could run downtown after work and run any errands you needed or go out to eat. This will definitely be a discouragement to me to go downtown. Yet another example of how are city is making it more difficult to own or opperate a business downtown. Let's just move everything to 6 th and wakarusa and get it over with. ;)
LarryNative (anonymous) says…
zstol,
The city is not changing the amount of time you put on the meter. If two hours was enough for you to shop or eat before, you'll be fine.
julz (anonymous) says…
I hope the new plates on the meters also tell you the enforcement hours. Otherwise, how will anyone know they need to pay until 6 pm - especially out of towners? Even for locals this will be a steep learning curve as most meters everywhere are only until 5.
zstoltenberg (anonymous) says…
Larry Native,
I was talking about the change of time to 6PM instead of five. If all the merchants want to close their doors at 5:00 then the metering should stop at 5:00. I think moving the time back to 6:00 further enforces the need for many of these merchants to stay open even later, something they don't want to do.
hail2oldku (anonymous) says…
My, my, my Roads_Collar, how presumptious of you.
Of course you couldn't be more wrong with your referrence to "get it and get out" or that if you are done spending your money, you are not welcome.
My point is more toward the downtown merchants that close their doors too early for the people that work during the day to shop downtown. I'd gladly shop downtown more often (and pay the extra two-bits for parking) if the stores were open later into the evening. It's kind of difficult though to get off work at 5 (if I'm lucky), pick up the wife and kids, and get downtown (dodging those menacing bike riders{note sarcasm here} all the way) in time to do any significant shopping at very many of our downtown retailers.
Time for you to climb off that high horse of yours and eat some of that crow you purchased at the farmers market.
BTW, there is ample parking, for free, just 1/2 block east or west of those downtown merchants that I would also willingly walk from - if they were open at a time that I am available to shop.
dudedog12 (anonymous) says…
and they wonder why downtown is drying up ?? you don't have to be a graduate to figure this one out.. keeep it up..
Noweigh (anonymous) says…
If you were anywhere near Busker Festival last weekend you saw thousands of extra late night customers downtown, and not just club or concert goers. Real, live families. Who was open? The vast majority were national retailers and chain operations. The locals were closed. When are they going to get it?
ksjayhawk74 (anonymous) says…
Complaining about the fee increase is just ridiculous...
The fees and fines, even after the increase are nothing... 50 cents for an hour? $3 for a fine? And people complain? Really?
If you REALLY can't spare the 2 quarters to park for an hour you have many options. You can park on the top level of the parking garage (it's free). You can park in 1 of the free 2 hour parking lots. You could get a ride. You can ride the bus. You can walk.