Downtown Fayetteville Business Owners Petition City to End Paid Parking
posted by Aliann Acevedo Perez | February 15, 2022 | In NewsIn downtown Fayetteville, business owners have begun petitioning the city to end paid evening parking. The petition in place asks for parking to be free after 5 p.m.
Downtown Alliance Vice President C. John Malzone announced they’ll be circulating the petitions due to the impact of parking fees on businesses. The Downtown Alliance is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the businesses of Downtown Fayetteville.
The current paid parking rules in Fayetteville are in effect from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., and out of the major cities in North Carolina, it has the longest hours of paid downtown parking, according to the Fayetteville Observer.
Cities such as Raleigh and Charlotte do not charge for parking after 6 p.m. Durham doesn’t charge after 7 p.m., and Winston-Salem does not charge after 5 p.m.
Due to the length of the current paid parking rules, restaurants, businesses, and other venues in Downtown Fayetteville are taking a tremendous hit.
“Paid parking at night and during events on weekends has had a negative impact on the cultural and economic vitality of downtown business,” the Downtown Alliance released in a statement as reported by Fayetteville Observer.
The Downtown Alliance is also calling for the city to dial back on paid event parking, especially during the Fayetteville Woodpeckers baseball games. The general rate for parking during events is $5. For Woodpeckers games, this rate is enforced up to two hours before the game and two hours after the game has commenced.
The Downtown Alliance contends that since the event rate is still charged regardless of the vicinity of the parking space during the game, potential business customers are deterred and driven away. The petition proposes to limit event pricing to one hour prior to the start of a game, and thirty minutes after the commencement of a game.
The petition has been distributed to businesses downtown and has been posted online for the public, and has thus far received over 3,600 signatures.
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