Anytime something that has been free starts costing money, there’s going to be resistance.
It doesn’t matter that Fayetteville officials wooled around this idea of parking fees in the city’s entertainment district for months on end, then implemented it with plenty of forewarning.
Nor does it really matter how much the rates are. Any charge would draw criticism.
And so it has, despite the earnest effort to have people who frequent the entertainment district eventually pay for a parking garage to serve them.
Fayetteville recently installed parking stations on and around Dickson Street, the heart of Fayetteville’s entertainment district. The charge is 50 cents an hour in the daytime and $1 an hour after 5 p.m. for spaces lining certain streets and in parking lots, including the large lot across from the Walton Arts Center.
Patrons of the center will soon be able to reserve parking spaces for a higher charge ($10 to $20) on performance nights, but the maximum charge is supposed to be $5 for unreserved slots anywhere in the district.
The city put close to $811,000 into the purchase and installation of equipment for the program and intends to use the parking fees to pay for enforcement and, eventually, for parking improvements like a parking deck on or near Dickson.
The plan evolved after cityofficials worked with local merchants and property owners, attempting to solve what has been a nagging parking problem in the area. Part of the agreement was reduced parking fees for employees of the bars and restaurants and other businesses there and free parking for residents.
What seemed like well-laid plans, however, haven’t been implemented all that smoothly.
Some Dickson Street employees, for example, complain that they’re still expected to pay too much just to get to their jobs.
Then there are the challenges for people who live in the area.
And, of course, vandals have damaged some of the equipment.
Police Chief Greg Tabor late last week claimed vandals had caused approximately $15,000 in damage to the new machines; but this week authorities couldn’t substantiate the figure. In five reported incidents of criminal mischief reported prior to Tabor’s news release, damages were apparently under $500.
It appears to have been a badcase of overexaggeration to make the point that physical resistance to the new parking policy - like breaking the arms off machines at gated lots, jamming the mechanisms or spray painting the equipment - costs taxpayers money.
It obviously does; but officials’ hyping the problem turned out to be a problem of its own.
Get this: That all happened in the first days of the program, when motorists were just getting introduced to the machines.
Real enforcement wasn’t even scheduled to begin until today.
Hoping to educate drivers, the city had purposely been lenient in the first week.
The leniency period is over and officers will be citing motorists who park without paying, which will only ramp up criticism from those resistant to having to pay even for the parking. It’ll cost $10 for a first offense, $15 for a second and $20 for the third, plus there are heavier penalties for things like parking in slots reserved for residents in the area.
All of this is to say that the reaction will likely get worse before it gets better.
Nevertheless, the program is apparently here to stay. It will get a review in 90 days to see if it needs to be tweaked in any way, but visits to the city’s entertainment district are simply going to cost a little more.
BRENDA BLAGG IS A COLUMNIST FOR NORTHWEST ARKANSAS NEWSPAPERS.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 08/27/2010