Public reacts to city parking proposal

Some owners of small businesses are opposed to a metered parking proposal for downtown Bloomington, and John Bailey, managing partner of Malibu Grill, isn’t one of them.

The vote on the proposal, which calls for metered parking in downtown Bloomington, was delayed until March 20 by the Bloomington City Council.

“During our initial Council meeting to discuss parking it became clear there were opportunities to gather additional information and potentially identify compromises or alternatives to the original parking proposal,” Darryl Neher, president of the Bloomington City Council, said in an email. “After talking with Mayor Kruzan, I offered the motion to postpone to provide everyone involved additional time to consider our options moving forward.”

Neher said the Council believes additional research is necessary for the metered parking proposal.

“I hope we are able to come together in the coming weeks to identify common ground in developing a comprehensive downtown parking policy,” he said.

The parking proposal calls for a “fixed supply” of 1,200 spots that will cost $1 per hour, according to a memo from the City Council. Metered spots currently exist in parts of downtown Bloomington including the parking lot on Dunn Street.

“Smart-meter technology is the most effective way to manage our finite, on-street parking resources,” Susie Johnson, director of public works, said in a memo. “Metering will allow for a more universal consistent and predictable approach for motorists.”

“The problem, in brief, is that the city has the duty of managing use of on-street parking spaces as a public resource for the betterment of the community,” the memo said.

Jim Shelton, interim president and chief executive officer for the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber is in opposition to the metered parking plan.

“We are opposed to putting meters in downtown until they make it part of a comprehensive plan that addresses conditions of the garages and all of the volunteers downtown,” Shelton said.

There are more than 100 volunteers that work at places such as the Wonderlab Museum and Monroe County Public Library who should receive special parking accommodations or perhaps even free parking, he said.

Shelton said some small businesses will probably suffer from metered parking.
“There are some small businesses there are operating on very thin margins and this could make the difference whether they survive or not,” Shelton said.

Bailey said he was once opposed to the idea of metered parking downtown Bloomington, but now he supports it.

“Not only am I for it,” Bailey said. “We have to do it.”

Bailey said there is competition among employees, customers and residents for “hot spaces” around the square and up and down Kirkwood Avenue.

“The customer should win that battle,” he said. “The customer doesn’t have a lot of economic decision in the matter versus the employee that’s got to think about 20, 30 or 40 dollars.”

Bailey said if there are more parking spaces available, businesses will get more customers.

The reality is a lot of small business owners don’t want to pay for parking themselves, he said.

Bloomington City Council member Tim Mayer said people do not have a full understanding of the  metered parking process. “For example, some people will think metering will be in effect seven days a week,” Mayer said. “There are some free opportunities for parking in garages in the evening.”

“Part of our problem is we didn’t communicate that as well as we could,” Mayer said.

Mayer said the reason for metered parking is to raise revenue. He also said there is a shortfall in operations of parking garages in Bloomington on an annual basis, which is currently be funded out of the budget’s general fund.

Bloomington currently has three parking garages downtown.

“By statute, the money stays within the district basically,” Mayer said. “That’s how we would be able to fund operations of the parking facilities, as well as enhance the district where the parking will be facilitated, if the council decides to put meters in those areas.”

John McGuigan, an employee of Caveat Emptor, a local bookstore, said he has collected more than 3,000 signatures for a petition against the proposal.

“Basically, we had no idea what to expect,” McGuigan said. “It turns out the number of Bloomingtonians who object to the parking meters turns to be huge.”

McGuigan said they’ve also created a coalition of downtown businesses who oppose the meter plan.

“I think a lot of people think installing parking meters throughout the downtown area will change the character of Bloomington,” he said. “Not only by businesses who are concerned about a possible decline in their business because people will probably be less inclined to browse, whether at a bookstore or records store.”

McGuigan said he foresees a significant curtailment with browsing activity.

“Well, first of all, we don’t think there is a parking problem,” Mcguigan said. “We think the parking problem has been used to disguise a budget problem. The city isn’t within its means.”

McGuigan said the meters are intended to bring in significant revenue for the city, not only for parking garages, but for city operations in general.

Bloomington City Council member Marty Spechler said metered parking needs to happen downtown.

“We feel as if we have to create more places for people, and one way to do that is change nominal amounts, so that people don’t warehouse their cars on the streets,” Spechler said. “We’re particularly interested in having workers park in garages so customers will park in the street.”

Spechler said the city needs the money from metered parking to provide better lighting and cameras for the garages.

“When they (garages) are fully used, there are going to be more spaces on the streets,” Spechler said.

Spechler said he doesn’t think metered parking won’t hurt strong businesses with good business plans.

“Even if there were no parking meters, some small businesses come and go,” Spechler said. “It’s hard to find a business that’s been there a very long time, and the job of the city council is not to choose who will live and who will die.”

He said small businesses will have to move or adjust if they don’t meet needs of the customers.

“We have to do it because the future is more demand for parking and less supply,” Spechler said. “That’s really the bottom line.”

Bailey said metered parking is a supply and demand issue.

“It’s a divisive issue. It’s a polarizing issue,” Bailey said. “There’s a lot of people that don’t want it and do want it. Personally, I don’t want to start paying for parking, but I understand the gravity of the situation. The writing is on the wall.”