[OPINION] Can We Just Get Rid Of The Downtown Parking Meters?

Stop me if you've heard this one before...let's get rid of the paid parking throughout downtown St. Cloud. It's antiquated, confusing to visitors, and visually offensive. I know in recent years changes have been made to the rules surrounding downtown parking, but let's make it even simpler, and get rid of it all together.

People say downtowns are the heart of a city, our heart IS beating and it's getting stronger. But during the work day, it feels like our heart skips a beat or two.

Downtown businesses teamed up with the City of St. Cloud to create a Business Improvement District (BID). The idea is that property owners would pay 'increased property taxes to support the district's operations.' At one point this summer, something like 50 individuals and businesses pledged to fund the nonprofit that would be created for the BID.

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The whole point of the BID is to help make downtown St. Cloud more vibrant, friendly for visitors, and attractive to businesses. The first thing that should be done with some of those BID dollars is to get rid of the parking meters.

Many times during the day I'll avoid going anywhere near the downtown area based on those meters. I feel like I'm being held hostage for $2-3 to park downtown before I even spend more money on lunch or other items.

I'm all for seeing the downtown area become more vibrant and visitor-friendly, and It's going to take more than those businesses downtown to do that, but for now, if those downtown businesses want an immediate impact on seeing more people downtown, get rid of the parking meters, and adopt different parking rules (I.E. 24 hour parking limits).

Free Parking!