When I travel, I try to make it to downtowns to see how their parking is setup for visitors. This is what I found on my last trip.
In Rapid City, they allow 3 hours free parking on their main street. I talked to downtown gallery owner Joe Lowe about it (we mostly talked politics :)Â and he said that they do monitor it, and you can move your car after 3 hours if you want more time.
In Deadwood I walked from my hotel, but it seemed there was plenty of public parking available for free in flat lots.
In Cody, WY I didn’t see a time limit on the main drag (Sheridan Ave?) and NO parking meters.
In Fort Collins there was 2 hours free parking in the Downtown area, plus 2 hour free flat lots.
While downtown Sioux Falls does allow free parking on Main Avenue, Phillips Avenue does charge on the meters from 9-5, weekdays. I have often argued if we want even more activity downtown we should remove the parking meters on Phillips Avenue from 14th to 6th Street, leave them everywhere else, and still charge for the ramps. I think the Phillips Avenue parking should be a 2 hour time limit, and monitored.
We consistently hear that since the parking system is an enterprise fund, we need the revenue to support it. I think with the possibility of a new ramp, and all the other ramps available and side street meters we could easily afford to give FREE parking on Phillips to visitors. The economic boost would be worth it. I would even implore we charge additional property taxes to Phillips Avenue businesses to offset the meter loss.
I am just baffled how I can visit four other Midwestern communities who have figured out free parking for their visitors, but for some reason this boomtown can’t.