Since the city of Monroe raised parking ticket rates to $50, downtown merchants are again discussing the idea of increasing at least some parking time limits.
The current time limit of two hours doesn't enable people to browse or get long services like hair coloring processes done, say some merchants. And it can discourage tourism, said others.
"Since they raised the ticket price, they've really enforced it," said Amanda Kleinert, owner of Main Street Books and an active member of the business community. "Some of the people getting tickets are people from Seattle or Issaquah, here to shop for the first time, and now they don't want to come back."
"A lot of the antique stores want four-hour parking," said Chamber of Commerce Director Neil Watkins last week. "But other businesses don't."
Monroe is attracting more and more antique stores, and could become a destination for antiques shoppers, some antique stores owners hope. An extended time limit on downtown parking would enable them to peruse the stores at leisure.
But other businesses remember a time when employees of businesses routinely parked on Main Street and took up all the parking for potential customers. They don't want to see that happen again, said Kleinert.
"It's split about 50-50," she said. "Most of the people who have been here 10 years or more like two-hour parking. They've seen what happens with longer limits. You see business owners parking on front of their own stores."
A good solution, she suggested, would be for the city to put signs directing people to long-term parking if they wanted to stay for more than two hours.
"There's places like Fremont Street and Hill and Ferry where you can park for longer than two hours," she said. "You just have to look."
City councilman John Stima said he thinks the city should look at the two hour time limit again. "The two-hour, one size fits all maybe not as good a fit as it used to be," he said. "For a hair appointment, sometimes two hours is not enough."
And he still hopes to see a downtown parking area at some point. "Not necessarily a big parking structure but somewhere everyone could park to use the downtown," he said.
About two years ago, the city council directed the staff to include in a downtown transportation plan $1 million to identify and help create a downtown parking area, but that transportation plan has not been fully funded.
"It was earmarked, but as to where the money was to come from, there didn't have a source," said city planner Ben Swanson.
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