GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - There continues to be concern about the cost and availability of parking in Grand Rapids.
The city's parking commission held a public hearing Thursday, Dec. 13, to discuss the following draft recommendations from the 2018 Grand Rapids Parking Rate and Demand Study:
- Maintain current standard monthly parking rates
- Phase out and increase the rate for monthly non-residential reserved parking
- Merge VIP parking permit program into the evening parking permit program
- Extend hours of operation for on-street parking to improve parking turn over downtown
City Manager Mark Washington has issued a moratorium on staff-initiated parking management and rate changes, saying he needs time to work with Mobile GR and Parking Services staff to establish strategic priorities for the Fiscal Year 2020 proposed budget.
“During this time, we will continue to evaluate and implement requested parking changes initiated by neighborhoods, businesses and developers,” Washington said. “We also will use this time to consider the important input received by the Mobile GR Commission over the past months, including feedback on the recent parking rate and demand study.”
Critics say the cost of parking is simply not affordable.
"Approaching it from weekends and weeknights, it makes it very cost prohibitive for the working poor and restaurant staffs to come downtown and park," said Eric Albertson from the SpeakEz Lounge. "So we feel that this proposal will drive away our labor force and will prevent people from coming downtown and it's just ill conceived."
"We've got all this construction going on, we have all this development going on, and we're coming to a bottleneck," said attorney Dan Burns. "Our concern for the business community is we don't want that bottle-neck to drive businesses to other areas."
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