Cleveland City Council has approved changes to parking rates, which could see prices increase to $8 per hour in downtown areas and $4 per hour outside of the downtown area. The changes also include the introduction of charges for weekday evening parking and payment requirements on Saturdays and Sundays. These adjustments were made in conjunction with Mayor Justin Bibb’s plan to upgrade the city’s parking meters with smart-parking technology that accepts credit card and mobile payments, as well as adjusts rates based on demand.
This overhaul is necessary due to the city’s limited ability to afford upgrades to its parking infrastructure, such as repaving lots and maintaining garages. The current rates are also not competitive with private garages, resulting in a decline in parking revenues. In 2018 and 2019, Cleveland collected over $10 million in parking revenue, but this dropped to $6 million in 2020 and $5.2 million in 2021. To help close this gap and transition to new parking technology, Mayor Bibb sought permission to raise rates in various ways and have flexibility in setting fees based on demand.
The new parking technology, which will cost around $5 million, will include the installation of 700 new meters and meterless, paid-parking zones. The technology will allow for dynamic pricing. The current hourly rates range from 50 cents to $1, and the flexible rates will maintain $1 as the lower limit. There will be different guidelines for downtown and other neighborhoods, with the mayor having the flexibility to charge up to $8 per hour in downtown spots and up to $4 elsewhere.
In order to encourage turnover in parking spots and bring more business to downtown establishments, weeknight and weekend parking enforcement will be introduced. The changes also include increases in rates at city-owned lots and a potential increase in the fee for Browns tailgaters parking in the Muni Lot.
Sources: Cleveland.com