Lexpark may need more money, but downtown definitely needs free Saturday parking | Opinion
Next Tuesday, our mostly brand-new urban county council will get an earful on one of the smallest yet biggest issues they will have to deal with moving forward: parking.
On one side, the Lexington Parking Authority, the quasi-governmental agency known as Lexpark recently announced plans to raise street parking rates, including the first-time addition of rates on weeknights and Saturdays to cover new security costs, a new sales tax and structural upgrades to parking garages. (The reason there’s now taxes on parking is related to the General Assembly’s bad income tax bill. )
On the other, a coalition of downtown businesses and bars says that after barely surviving the pandemic, they don’t need to drive customers away with more parking hassles.
Both sides are scheduled to speak at an Urban County Council work session at 3 p.m. on Jan. 24.
“We have worked three years to get out of this pandemic, we’re back, so let’s not run people off now,” said Debbie Long, the owner of Dudley’s who has organized a protest group. “We’re going in a backward direction instead of taking the downtown forward.”
She’s right. It’s hard enough to persuade many Lexingtonians that downtown isn’t a violent scene of sin without contending with parking tickets after 5 p.m. or on Saturdays. What about Farmer’s Market? Why not skip downtown and go to Southland on Sunday instead in a place you can park for free? I think it’s fair to say that people are less worried about increased rates and more concerned about nights and weekends.
Long’s group did an open records request on Lexpark’s finances that found restricted assets of about $3.4 million that haven’t been touched, and cash flow that appears to be reaching pre-pandemic levels. But, says Lexpark’s Executive Director Gary Means, the restricted money is already promised to future projects and is not recurring. The agency does not receive any tax dollars.
Lexpark officials say they need to make about $700,000 a year surplus in order to have enough on hand for repairs and renovations to meters and the four parking garages the city gave Lexpark when it was formed in 2008. A land swap between UK and the city — UK gave the city land at Coldstream Research Park in return for control of numerous streets around campus, including Press, Leader and Rose, has also decreased revenues. Street parking in those areas brought in between $300,000 and $400,000 a year that UK started collecting instead in late July. Overall, revenue from daytime parking is down about 20 percent from 2019.
In addition, Lexpark has added about $150,000 a year in recurring costs for new security personnel in the garages and about $500,000 in surveillance upgrades in them as well. Probably each of the parking garages need at least half to $1 million in upgrades right now. Lexington had a horrifying example of what happens when garages aren’t maintained back in 2006, when a pregnant woman was killed by a dislodged 5,000-pound concrete panel wall at the Chase Bank parking garage as she walked by.
“It’s the perfect storm for us,” said Lexpark board chair James Frazier. “We don’t have enough money for upgrades and enhanced equipment.”
Lexpark can’t be forced to do anything. The board members are appointed by the mayor, but as a quasi-governmental organization, they are accountable only to public opinion. That kind of organization also means they can move much more quickly than a government department could.
The two sides go back and forth over other cities. Greenville, S.C., Long says, has free parking downtown. Greenville’s city tax dollars underwrite its parking, Frazier counters. Cinncinnati and Louisville charge higher rates and on Saturday, but let’s face it, we are not those cities.
When two sides are dug in like this, it usually means they’re not being creative enough to find some solutions. Lexpark has some bonding capacity, for example, that could possibly be used to pay for security upgrades? Could the city help with some one-time costs that would lessen the burden? Could parking rates be extended to 6 p.m., rather than the whole evening? What else could support free Saturday parking?
In the end, everyone wants downtown businesses to succeed, every one wants safe parking garages and everyone wants cheap or free street parking. Everyone will have to give a little something. But in the realm of city problems, this one seems perfectly suited to some kind of solution.
