Parking rate cuts in Calgary expected today

CALGARY – Decreases in downtown parking rates will be announced today, with expectations that short-term street parking will be cut the most in hopes of getting more Calgarians to come into the core to shop or do business.

"Short-term parking has been identified as a priority," said Ald. Druh Farrell, whose ward includes part of the downtown.

"We need to reduce rates for people that are there for just short stays, and stop treating people who just want to shop or come in for a meeting as if they were commuters."

Farrell suggested the city’s new, computerized ParkPlus system could easily be adjusted to stagger rates, allowing the cheapest rate for a 15-minute stay, with slight increases in rates for a half-hour, one hour, all the way up to two or three hours, the maximum stay for most on-street parking.

"We have the technology to do that, so why not?"

Following a review of on-and off-street parking by the Calgary Parking Authority, rates are set to be decreased at a press conference scheduled for today at the Metropolitan Conference Centre.

Reductions in parking rates by private vendors, brought on by the recession, have also contributed to the push to reduce off-street rates.

In January, on-street parking rates rose 25 per cent to a maximum of $5 an hour downtown, while rates in adjacent communities, such as Kensington and Mission, also went up.

Downtown merchants and retailers have decried the rate hikes, saying downtown is already very difficult to access with so many construction projects.

But a lack of parking, and high prices for what little is available, is causing much discussion and frustration among those who do venture downtown.

"Parking downtown is a nightmare, and it’s way too expensive," said Tel Shire, spending her day off shopping downtown Thursday.

"I can’t believe how difficult the city makes it just to come downtown. There’s very little incentive."

Warren Renden, a clerk at Micah Gallery and Gifts along Stephen Avenue, says many tourists complain about the price of parking downtown and how hard it is to get around.

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"Cheaper rates? Now that would be really useful," Renden said.

Renden says not only do road closures around large construction projects like the Bow tower and East Village redevelopment make it hard to get around downtown, more and more surface parking disappears with each project.

"I had one lady come in here the other day who said she hadn’t been downtown for eight years. There’s just too many inhibitors."

Colin Logiss, owner of Twigs and Company, which specializes in gifts, flowers and ladies apparel, says many of his customers continue to complain about downtown parking.

"It is an endless diatribe. I hear it time and time again.

"People are very frustrated. They’re frustrated by the time they finally get here, and then they just want to get right back out."

Maggie Schofield, executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, says she, too, wants cheaper rates for short-term parking.

"We want rates rolled back to at least where they were last year."

"We just want to make sure people can get here to do business, and they can get in and out quickly for a reasonable price."

Farrell expects the ParkPlus system will be easily adjustable to the new rates, adding that crime and vandalism around parking meters has been reduced significantly since the introduction of the new system two years ago.

"It was organized crime, they would chop off the tops of the meters, collect the money, and we’d find them dumped in the river during river cleanups," the alderman says.

Over 40 per cent of downtown meters were damaged before ParkPlus was put in place.

The Calgary Parking Authority budget for 2010 is recommending a reduced rate for short stay parking, which will result in a reduction of $1.4 million in revenue.

But lost revenue is expected to be replaced through several efforts, including an increase in parking enforcement, parking fines and increased impound lot revenue.

eferguson@theherald.canwest.com

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