With no meters, I do not mind going downtown. I usually have little trouble finding a spot to park. I visit the business I want and then am gone. No trying to find the change; no worrying about how much time is left on the meter.

That’ll bring em downtown.

I think not having the parking meters has been an improvement to downtown. That and not having street people bugging you for change every time you got out of your vehicle.

Please, don’t screw it up just to bring in another $80K.
Honestly, what could the City do with another $80K……pay for an assistant to the Mayor……yippee!!!

Overall, it’s not going to do much other than put a big pothole in the middle of downtown revitalization.

I think the average citizen wouldn’t mind paying another dollar a year on their property taxes. 80,000 citizens X $1.00 = $80K to avoid having to deal with parking meters…

The city might have brought in $80,000 but, what does it cost to maintain a pay-for-parking system?
I mean the real cost: equipment, equipment maintenance, employee wages/benefits and administration.
Weigh that against the loss of customers the downtown businesses can expect if metering starts again.
I, for one, will not shop downtown if metering is re-introduced.

Will you need to pay if you park in a pothole?because i see it as being still under consrtuction. :)

“The removal of the meters was agreed to following increased vandalism to the meters and difficulty in finding replacement parts for the mechanical meters.”

a) bringing back meters is going to cure the vandalism problem?

b) how much will it cost to buy all new vandalism proof non-mechanical digital meters?

c) what does a vandalism proof parking meter look like? Does such a meter even exist?

d) if it does, how many years of parking meter revenues will it take to pay for the new space age meters and their installation?

I thought taking out the parking meters was a good idea originally, but all that it’s done is give the downtown employees a free place to park for the day.

Not that it really matters for me, I never go downtown.

Chalk isn’t very expensive.

The problem with the free parking downtown is that some of the people that work downtown abuse it by parking on the streets for their entire working day. They come down every 2 hours and move to a different spot. This takes away spaces for the people that some downtown to shop and for other errands. The worst area for this are the blocks around Third and Victoria. By 8:00 every morning there are 20-30 vehicles in this area.
Some of the merchants would rather see parking meters brought back to combat the employees that park on the street.
The decision of bringing back parking meters will not affect those people that have stated they do not and will not shop in the downtown. It will only affect those that actually come downtown and park for a short period of time.

Weather there are parking meters or not does not change my decision to shop downtown. I usually have change for a meter, and have to watch my time either way, as there is currently a time limit, and I don’t want a ticket.
What is changing my decision to go downtown is a marked improvement in the people hanging out downtown. There seems to be less panhandling. I have been feeling safer in the downtown area, and that is bringing me back(sometimes).
As far as employees taking up parking downtown, where would you suggest they park? When I worked downtown, there were waiting lists on all the “monthly” spots. I could usually find a spot in one of the all day lots, but if I had to go anywhere during the day, the spot would be gone when I returned. Often the employees of that office would take turns, every 2 hours shifting vehicles around, and plugging meters. Until the city “forces” downtown businesses to provide parking for their employees, those vehicles have to park somewhere.

I for one find it hard to believe that they didn’t bring in more than $80 grand, in 2011, considering a parking ticket is $25 and I myself know a lot of people that got them! and if they do bring meters back how much are they going to be charging for 15minutes this time?? when they took the meters away it was “.50 cents/15min “

and as for the comment, “I think the average citizen wouldn’t mind paying another dollar a year on their property taxes. 80,000 citizens X $1.00 = $80K to avoid having to deal with parking meters…” NO THANKS paying already way too much and for what?? our great road maintenance?? snow removal?? buying old buildings in downtown PG and then ripping them down??LOL ya no thanks!!

$80,000.00 in revenue would hardly begin to cover the labour cost of meter maids, city hall people to count the quarters, and maintenance people. Seems like a no brainer to not reinstall the meters but then again city council is not known for making well thought out decisions.
It is challenging enough to try and entice shoppers to the downtown core, add the meters and it is just one more reason to patronize the malls and big box retailers.

Maybe the city could make a deal with Hydro and use smart meters!

Speaking of pay parking, the parking stalls beside the Achillion Greek restaurant are part of the city pay lot not the Achillion. Very poorly marked.

I thought that ‘open for business’ referred to developers not parking meter suppliers ;)

Newer metering systems do not have a coin box at each stall; rather, you are forced to walk down the road to a central pay station to pay for your stall number. Seen these in Kelowna and Victoria. Less units to vandalize, and they take credit cards.

Wondering if the business at,, say,, Canadian Tire would be effected if they gated their parking lot and put in meters??

Here is a plug for 4 down town buisnesses that that come to mind that I think do an astounding job and they are buisnesses that I would frequent regularly and they are: 1) The Northern Hardware. The saying around town is if The Northern doesn’t have it you don’t need it and that is generally the case. 2) Mc Ginises Lighting. McGinises have any lighting fixes that you can’t get in any hardware store and their store has a better selection of new lights than any store in town. 3)Books on main are the greatest book store that I have seen any where and their coffee shop has great pasteries and ample room to sit and read a book. 4) Personally I like Ritz Bakery, but I am sure any one of the bakeries would suffice. They have fresh pasteries best for parties and deserts.

I can’t imagine fiddling with a credit card and a frozen station when it is 30 below, the snow is blowing and the windchill factor closer to 45 below.

Funny… When the meters were removed the gross revenue at the time was $50,000 per year and now it’s stated that it’s $80,000. Sounds like a pretty silly report.

Other Cities use a drive by license plate scanner that will check if you’ve been in an area too long. It would solve the office worker problem and you could cover the whole downtown with two employees–a driver and a scanner operator. It would save a lot of money, keep the meters out, and solve the problems.

I think the problem is that the city can’t lay any outside workers off.

I wouldn’t be thinking about raising property taxes to cover the $80,000 but I would think about how the city does buisness (ie) get out of the real estate buisness. We do not need to build up the dyke, dredge the damn river where it is needed. We don’t need a Winter Games at least not until we get our streets and side walks up to standard. We need signs posted in appropriate locations to point tourists to where they want to go. We need to upgrade our infastructure the water pipes are rotting our water drains need repair. This most definately NOT a 3P Private Public Partenership job or SCAM as we already have enough expenseson the go. Prince George could be a beautiful city and one that would attract tourism and new residents if our Mayor and councilors would come on side. IMO

The City should just contract all parking out to Impark. Every lot and stall in town would be pay parking. The contract would cost the Impark 100k per year. So the City would be ahead 20k and Impark would make a killing from just Wallmart alone.

Good example how our city operates.Most things baffel them and the meters are no exception.
Cheers

Leave it be council. Revisit in 2 more years. If the downtown explodes with growth and parking is an issue, look at it then. For now, we are getting some sparks of life. Don’t screw with it for 80K.

I detest parking meters. If I had a D8 Cat, I would love to drive through town and mow them all down.

I want to pop in to the Northern for 10 minutes, can’t find a quarter. So, take a chance and come back to find a parking ticket. I am steaming. Why? Because I never get a credit for unused time on the meter when I plug it for 15 minutes and only use 5.

I would happily pay an extra dollar per year on my taxes to eliminate the hassle of meters.

How many times have I had to walk across the street to Days Inn to buy a parking ticket to park in the lot at Kings Inn? Too many. It’s so inconvenient and poorly marked. We should make it convenient, not inconvenient.

What’s wrong with downtown businesses monitoring their own employee parking habits? It’s in their best interest to do their best to ensure there is parking in front of their businesses and the spots are not tied up by downtown employees.

Meter maids chalking my tires doesn’t go over very well either. I take pride in my vehicles and having someone come by and decide to smear chalk on my tires is not appreciated. Figure out another way to identify the abusers.

The most frustrating experiences I have had occurred in pay parking lots. For example: not following the instructions correctly, because you can’t read them.(faded, over exposed by direct sunlight, torn off) Or, putting money in two and three times and still not leaving with a ticket. Might be a hilarious experience for some, but not me.

Yes, parking meters and parking lots are one of my pet peeves. I am not in support of them at all. Figure out another way to get $80,000 out of me that I will find more enjoyable.

Someone should tell the Mayor and City Council that 80K is completely immaterial to their overall budget. It’s not even worth discussing. Get over it, don’t bother putting them back in and give the people who actually shop downtown a break.

As for the people who work downtown using the on street parking, I can honestly say that I never had a problem finding a parking spot somewhere in downtown PG that gave me access to where I needed to go. People can walk a block, or two, or even three if need be. Geez people, the downtown core isn’t THAT busy!!!!

If talking was “revitalizing” downtown it would have been done by now. Talk, talk, talk. Buy a building. tear it down. Buy another. And on and on. Keep up the good work, city hall. Above all, keep talking. It does wonders revitalizing downtown.

Hey, Chalk IS Cheap, but BS gets you 80K LOL

Cool Hand Luke had his way with parking meters.