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Oct 27, 2024

Pay to park downtown Saturday night? Tucson proposal would extend parking meter enforcement - AZ Luminaria

The clock strikes 5 p.m. as Martin Fontes pulls into the metered parking space in front of his luchador-themed Mexican restaurant, Martins Comida Chingona on Fourth Avenue. While Fontes has paid his

The clock strikes 5 p.m. as Martin Fontes pulls into the metered parking space in front of his luchador-themed Mexican restaurant, Martins Comida Chingona on Fourth Avenue. While Fontes has paid his share of parking tickets near his business, he doesn’t usually have to worry about paying for parking in the evenings, but a new proposal by the city’s Department of Transportation and Mobility could change that.

“They gotta throw us a bone,” Fontes said about the city’s proposal to extend the number of hours and days drivers pay for on-street parking. “Grifting off the citizens, that’s what they’re doing.”

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The department announced via a news release on Oct. 21 it will hold two virtual public meetings this month to gather feedback on the proposed changes to parking meter enforcement hours.

After unlocking the door and firing up the kitchen, Fontes sits outside his restaurant cat-calling dogs and greeting passers-bye.

Although he’s a merchant on Fourth Avenue, one of the city’s commercial hubs and home to many small locally-owned businesses, he said he hadn’t heard or been asked about the proposed changes to the parking meters. Neither had Michael Kraych, co-owner of another Fourth Avenue establishment, Celestial Rites.

“Might as well destroy Fourth Avenue,” Kraych said.

The department’s initiative tacks on three extra hours of paid parking on weekday evenings with enforcement ending at 8 p.m. rather than 5 p.m. It also makes payment mandatory from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays, a day on which parking is currently free.

Kraych said that free parking on weekends is something he mentions when advertising his business and that the change’s approval would be “enough to make me want to move.”

While the hours of metered parking would change, the current rate of $1 per hour would remain.

The first opportunity to comment will take place Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m. and the second on Oct. 29. Both meetings are virtual. Those interested in providing their thoughts via survey, learning more or attending either open house should visit this website.

The department said in the news release Monday that the move is “expected to increase the availability of on-street parking for visitors to Downtown Tucson, Fourth Avenue Business District, University/Main Gate Square, and Mercado District.”

Both Fontes and Kraych want more transparency as to where parking meter money is going and what kind of assurance they have that the additional metered hours won’t negatively affect their business.

“They gotta be real on why they’re asking for more money,” Fontes said. “How do we know if it’s gonna work?”

If passed, the new parking enforcement hours would begin in early 2025, according to the city website.

Casey Anderson, the chief operating officer for the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association, said that the proposal could help the flow of foot traffic.

“It will potentially decrease the congestion and unavailability of finding parking spots,” she said. “People will be able to park and come visit the merchants to shop and eat.”

Anderson added that the proposal puts Tucson more in line with current policies in other big cities. The City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department enforces metered parking from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day.

In Tempe, parking is enforced Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. And in Flagstaff, it’s Sunday-Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the transportation department’s website.

Fontes sees the value in enforcing metered parking on Saturdays as he commonly sees people parking for free, having a few drinks and taking off on the street car for a good portion of the day.

“Then there is no parking for patrons,” he said. But Fontes still doesn’t understand how extending paid parking on weekdays will help his or any other businesses.

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Kraych disagrees with all of it and says it’s only adding a financial burden to customers and merchants.

“People are already having such a hard time, why add those extra three hours to it?” Kraych said.

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by Carolina Cuellar, AZ Luminaria October 23, 2024

Carolina Cuellar is a bilingual journalist based in Tucson covering South Arizona. Previously she reported on border and immigration issues in the Rio Grande Valley for Texas Public Radio. She has an M.S.... More by Carolina Cuellar