Buffalo Rising Online

Time limits can be enforced without charging for parking.

There is SOOOOOOO much parking in Buffalo.

For the last five or six years I have visited Bar Harbor, Maine. According to its tourist bureau and publications they have about three millions tourists visit the area,mostly during the summer. I could make a phone call for a fact check but I would estimate that about 75% to 80% of the parking is FREE along the main streets and side streets of the town. Bar Harbor even provides FREE, note that FREE parking lots for the tourists, businesses, and anyone else visiting. They have one rule as far as I know and that is,you are limited to a 2 HOUR time limit for a parking spot for many spots. There are hundreds of stores, restaurants and other associated tourists businesses there. This last summer I violated the rule, overstayed my time limit and was given a ten ($10) dollar parking ticket that did not double and double again every few days if it was paid late. I was two days late. Check accepted for ten dollars. Bar Harbor has density and choice of tourist attractions. Bar Harbor's ticket was more than what I would call a nuisance amount but the remainder of the parking policy is a reminder that they are tourist friendly. Buffalo if it could would triple the original ticket and double it every few days so the politicians downtown could get their share of the money. Of course that ticket penalty money is money that is not then being spent in the stores. So much for the short sighted business owners in Buffalo who insist on high parking fees. If you believe that parking fees are not part of Buffalo's problem then try place a fee on every parking spot at malls, suburban businesses etc. Make the penalty punitive and double it every ten days. I am always amazed at the lack of common sense and the powers of observation in some commentators.

I think the issue here isn't the policy, but the people who abuse the system (locals and employees). How idiotic do you have to be to sabotage a program that is designed to bring money and people to your stores and areas. Great program, stupid people.

What do you mean abuse the system? Why would any intelligent business person allow his employees or himself the luxury of parking in front of the business for the entire day thus depriving the customers of a convenient parking spot? As I said if I give the money to the politicians either in the form of parking fees or tickets, then I am not spending it in the store. This isn't a program, it is only lasting two days. It is more of a burp. It seems to me that City Hall is admitting that customers prefer cheap or free parking. They are afraid to change the policy that has made parking a revenue stream in the city budget. If you want to see how much the city collects then check out the budget on the City of Buffalo's website.

I'm referring to the part of the article that said "On the flipside, residents and store employees have been known to take advantage of these types of opportunities. What a break it is to be able to park the car and not have to worry about it for a couple days....." littleacorn, you're right, no business owner would allow that, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen, especially by the residents. Free parking would be great, but like you said about Bar Harbor, a free lot would be much better than free roadside parking.

Paying 25 cents or a dollar for parking is not going to bring extra people to shop in Buffalo. This is nothing more than the same mentality that demolished 50% of our downtown for plentiful parking. We can't compete on the parking front to the suburbs. I don't know why we even try. All it does is create false hope. If people know they have to trow a quarter in the meter.. fine it's easy and cheap. The uncertainty of their hours, the days of operation, the location of the lots, what about broken meters... These are the things that aggravate and push people away.

Also safety is probably the biggest factor for most people coming into the for any reason. Forcing the cops OUT of their cushy little cars and actually walking the beat would throw them in the face of both criminals and the public. When a cop car wizzes by, a criminal knows he just have to wait 30 seconds to go about doing whatever he was doing. A cop walking the beat is going to be a problem for 10-20 minute until he is out of hearing range... That is a safe feeling. A cop in a car who will be 1/2 mile away in 30 seconds is not a feeling of safety.