Skip Ahead:<\/strong> <\/a> The city began charging for on-street parking in 2010, and not without controversy. Surprisingly, Dash reports mostly kudos from the public on how parking is now handled.<\/p>\n Before the city charged for on-street parking, enforcement of time zones was handled by an outside company. That often led to problems, Dash said.<\/p>\n Dash said having an in-house parking program has been a vast improvement over the old system. In-house agents have more flexibility, he said, to handle and report situations. And they are more consistent in their work.<\/p>\n \u201cCustomer service is very pleasant,\u201d he said. \u201cResponse time to problem areas, and complaints about illegal parking going on in residential areas is far better than it\u2019s ever been, which occurs when you have your own program in house than if you\u2019re dealing with a contractor.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a>Why Pay for Parking<\/strong> \u201cProbably the most common one I get is \u2018We\u2019ve finally got turnover. Now I can actually come downtown, have a business luncheon, or meet a friend for lunch and I can actually find a space on the street without having to drive around, even on Fayetteville Street.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n People often like to point out that parking is free at the mall or when shopping outside of downtown.<\/p>\n Malls and stores are private locations, Dash said, and the price of parking is certainly part of the price of the items or meal you\u2019re buying. Downtown parking is public space, open to all, and paying emphasizes the fact that it\u2019s a commodity.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact is there\u2019s always a cost for parking. You can\u2019t have something this expensive and just give it away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/a> \n \n<\/div>\n \u201cThis is not a glorified job. Nobody wants to put on a parking uniform and write tickets and be faced with insults and, you know, threats all day. We\u2019ve had several agents that have been punched, kicked, pushed, have had their handheld computers knocked out of their hands. All these folks eventually get arrested and get charged and they go to court and they get convicted. But it\u2019s not a job that gives you any glory. And yet they love working here. They love the camaraderie. They can deal with the public. These are people that come from a good client-service background. They understand that insults are at the uniform, not at them. they don\u2019t take it personally for the most part.\u201d<\/p>\n Dash would like to pay the parking agents higher salaries. According to city figures, agents receive $23,000-$25,000 per year. Dash said the pay here is low compared to what other U.S. cities pay their parking agents.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not getting paid that much, and that\u2019s what hurts them,\u201d he said. \u201cSo those that are leaving are leaving because they just can\u2019t make it. I\u2019m fighting to try to get their salaries raised. That\u2019s still a work in progress, but it\u2019s something that\u2019s very important to me because we\u2019ve got really good people here and they\u2019re honest.\u201d<\/p>\n And no, they don\u2019t have any quotas for tickets.<\/p>\n <\/a> \u201cWe have to be careful that we don\u2019t go into residential areas with metered parking, because then the residents themselves and their guests, if they park on the street, they have to pay. We don\u2019t really go in as a city and look for places to either meter or to restrict parking unless we get complaints.\u201d<\/p>\n Find the balance between putting a premium on public parking and offering city residents a service is one of Dash\u2019s great challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cParking is a science. A science is basically 50 percent observation and 50 percent experiment. So you observe, you try something. If it doesn\u2019t work, you try something else. There\u2019s a lot of different principles and technologies we can use to help, but which one works best? I\u2019ve got enough contacts in other cities around the country that have been doing parking a lot longer than Raleigh that I can go to for guidance, but I can\u2019t consider anything that works great in one city as working great here.\u201d<\/p>\n Dash said Raleigh\u2019s blend of native residents and newcomers means creating another balance: that of implementing new technologies versus keeping things status quo.<\/p>\n <\/a> \u201cAll the problems we had on Hargett Street and on Fayetteville Street \u2026\u00a0 I took photographs of the very same cars, day after day after day. They weren\u2019t always in the same space but they were always there, so Wachovia Bank, everything from Wachovia over and all way up Fayetteville Street. Both sides of the street were often handicapped. And so when the meters finally went in, they disappeared almost the next day. And our agents find a lot of those cars up here [Dash pointed to the Jones Street block]. So they were state employees. It was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n Recently the Record heard complaints about parking around the North Carolina Legislative building, where there are no meters. Finding a parking spot there is not easy when the General Assembly is in session.<\/p>\n Many of the cars have handicapped placards on the dashboard. By our recent count, seven of 11 cars on East Lane Street displayed placards. On East North Street, nine of 11 cars displayed them. Dash said he has heard stories about people abusing handicapped placards, but those streets are governed by the state, meaning it\u2019s not the city\u2019s jurisdiction to enforce parking there.<\/p>\n \n \n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n However, the state is working with Dash to improve parking on some state-run streets. Officials previously asked Dash to install meters along Jones Street in front of the new section of the Museum of Natural Sciences<\/a>. Without meters, employees parked there all day, meaning there was no turnover for museum visitors. Installing the meters prompted immediate change, Dash said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re seeing turnover like they haven\u2019t seen in the last couple of years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Now, state parking officials are asking him to install more meters on Jones Street, this time in the 200 block, between Dawson and McDowell streets.<\/p>\n <\/a> \u201cBut that was before they really got an understanding of what exactly the makeup was of the vehicles that park there. And until you actually determine that, again, it\u2019s an experiment, right? Well it didn\u2019t create turnover; it scared them all away. Because the ones that were parking out there were, guess what, employees. And a lot of those employees were folks who work downtown. And they were willing to park that far out and guess what, a lot of them had bicycles in the trunks. They\u2019d cycle in to work. So that was all part of the mix of people that were out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, Dash said, parking on Glenwood is easy during the day (with a slight exception on the 200 block in front of condos). Parking begins to fill up at 4:30, he said, when restaurant and bar employees arrive for work.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the patrons come in and where do they go? Well they go wherever else. And that\u2019s why Glenwood is such as a zoo at night,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d never force this on them \u2026 but if [the merchants] ever complained that they wanted to see turnover, I would say \u2018well you can ask to, by petition, you can ask Council to extend the hours for parking on Glenwood.’ Because you can do that in certain areas without having to do the whole area. And if they did that, absolutely the parking rates would change the way that people look at parking on the street, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> Parking technology is one area that could be improved, Dash said, but it\u2019s not as simple as find, purchase, install and done. For example, some cities allow residents to pay parking meters through their cell phones.<\/p>\n In Raleigh, not every user seems interested in technology, Dash said. Most people don\u2019t even use credit cards. It breaks down to about 30 percent paying with plastic and 70 percent paying with coins. Parking is considered an enterprise fund in the city budget, meaning it should support itself without help from the general fund.<\/p>\n Dash said things are slowly improving. He was concerned, at first, about the departure of Progress Energy \u2014 a loss of about 1,200 monthly accounts. But Red Hat has, so far, purchased 890 accounts, he said, and more are expected.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are eventually going to at least bring up what we lost from Progress Energy, but the spinoff effect is now there are other companies, smaller, but are partners with Red Hat in one form or another and they are coming from other areas to also move downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n Dash pointed to the renovations in the 227 Fayetteville Street building and to other downtown development in the works, such as a new Marriott Residence hotel near the Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still playing catch-up with our revenue. We\u2019re just out of the red now, coming out of the red, which is great.”<\/p>\n Parking decks are not cheap. The average parking deck above ground is anywhere from $17,000 to $22,000 per space. The city\u2019s underground deck cost $49,000 per space. Right now the city carries more than $100 million in debt for the parking decks.<\/p>\n After the first five years of operation, decks begin to show signs of the stress of weights of vehicles moving around all the time. Dash said 5 percent of the construction cost of a deck is the amount that should be set aside for repairs.<\/p>\n \u201cThings start to get loose. And once concrete develops a few little cracks and moisture gets in, rust develops, and then concrete becomes bad and starts to break loose. And then that\u2019s when you get into serious issues,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not uncommon for a deck to have to undergo $800,000 to a million dollars of repairs within the first 10 years of operation just to keep it going. Decks should normally last 75 years with proper maintenance, but that maintenance is huge.\u201d A group of downtown Raleigh residents has been meeting with Dash to find out of there are ways to make it easier for people to find the parking decks.<\/p>\n Dash said the group has proposed a few wayfinding measures, such as a mobile app. Parking apps can tell users which decks have spaces available.<\/p>\n Other possible solutions include sensors in the ground to direct traffic, or lights over each parking deck space, displaying either red or green to demonstrate whether the space is available.<\/p>\n Dash said while he loves the ideas, it\u2019s going to cost a lot. Many such programs are free at first, he said, but the operations cost and later replacement costs are expensive.<\/p>\n \u201cBig cities with big infrastructures are finding it very helpful. Raleigh\u2019s not quite there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Dash said better signage has also been suggested. The city installed wayfinding signs in 2009, which helped, he said, but different signage is still needed to better highlight the decks. The problem is, signage gets political.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing is, ideas like that are not easy to implement because you\u2019ve got various departments, that, once you\u2019re stepping into their turf, you have to go by what their rules are, and the city has ordinance rules and inspections has rules that covers signage size, brightness. You know it\u2019s all considered part of the advertising. The closest that we could get to were what we call the lollipop signs. That\u2019s what you see on the street now where you\u2019ve got the parklink logo with the big \u2018P\u2019 in front of the entrances to the decks. But they are not that visible at night even though they\u2019re lighted, they\u2019re not that visible, so it is a problem. But that was all we could get.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe State of Parking<\/a>
\nWhy Pay for Parking<\/a>
\nParking Staff<\/a>
\nThe Balance of Parking<\/a>
\nParking for People with Disabilities<\/a>
\nGlenwood Avenue<\/a>
\nParking Technology<\/a>
\nThe Parking Budget Shortfall<\/a>
\nOther Parking Improvements<\/a>
\nFayetteville Zone Increase<\/a>
\nChanges to Parking Decks<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe State of Parking
\n<\/strong>Many people say there is \u201cnot enough\u201d parking downtown, but according to a 2008 study, there are more than 40,000 spaces downtown, paid and unpaid. Of those, the city manages 10,013 in the decks, lots and on the street. Since 1999, the city has built four decks to handle the projected demand.<\/p>\n
\nDecks and lots: 8,788
\nOn-street: 1,225
\nTotal: 10,013<\/div>\n
\nBefore the city required people to pay for on-street parking, there wasn\u2019t much turnover. Finding a spot downtown, especially a spot in a two-hour zone, was nearly impossible. That is one of the most common compliments Dash now hears, he said.<\/p>\n![\"park](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Parklinklogo.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nParking Staff<\/strong>
\nIn case you\u2019re wondering, yes, people sometimes are rude to the parking agents, Dash said.<\/p>\n![\"Gordon](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Gordon-Dash.jpg\")
<\/a> Gordon Dash. Photo by City of Raleigh.<\/p>\n
\nThe Balance of Parking
\n<\/strong>News broke recently of some new apartments going up down Hargett Street, east of Moore Square. It\u2019s a place Emo (East of Moore Square) Raleigh residents recognize as a parking lot for downtown employees who don\u2019t want to pay. But Dash said that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s time to put meters in that area.<\/p>\n
\nParking for People with Disabilities
\n<\/strong>Dash said metered parking has also improved parking for those with disabilities. Without turnover in the on-street spaces, those with disabilities are forced to park in a deck, meaning they have farther to travel on foot or by wheelchair. The meters have improved that, Dash said, by moving employees out of those on-street spaces, leaving room for visitors.<\/p>\n![\"park](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/parking3.jpg\")
<\/a> Cars parked near the General Assembly. Photo by Karen Tam.<\/p>\n
\nGlenwood Avenue
\n<\/strong>One surprise after the meters were installed was the change on Glenwood Avenue, Dash said. The street used to be full of cars all day long, and people requested metered parking there to create turnover.<\/p>\n
\nParking Technology
\n<\/strong>People seem to like the pay stations, Dash said. He often hears people compliment the ease of use and the fact that they\u2019re not ugly on the sidewalk.
\n![\"Fayetteville](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/parking_front.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\u201cThe thing they like about these ones is that, just like the old-fashioned meters, they still tell you how much time is left on a space. Most pay stations built today don\u2019t. The minute you enter a space number, it cancels out whatever remaining time was there so you never know. But this particular company, which was the company that built the first old-fashioned single-space parking meters, back in the early 1900s, believes in that old-fashioned mentality that the next person coming in has the right to pick up whatever time was purchased before. And I think it\u2019s a good philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>
\nThe Parking Budget Shortfall
\n<\/strong>The economy has not been kind to parking decks downtown, leaving the city\u2019s parking fund short. In 2011, city officials faced a $1.4 million parking shortfall. Prior to that, the city lost 489 monthly deck-parking accounts, each worth $100 per month. At one point, officials considered offering ad space in parking decks, but that idea was voted down.<\/p>\n![\"parking](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/parking_map.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/a>
\nOther Parking Improvements
\n<\/strong>Many residents who don\u2019t visit downtown often complain that there is nowhere to park, or they can\u2019t find parking. In some cases, they may not be aware of parking decks versus street parking.<\/p>\n
![\"Fayetteville](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/parking_faytteville.jpg\")
<\/a> Fayetteville Street is a popular place to park.<\/p>\n![\"parking](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/parking_deck_front.jpg\")
<\/a> The top of one of the downtown parking decks. Photo by Alex Ford.<\/p>\n