Politics & Government
Parking In Walnut Creek: Are You Ready for a $2 Hour?
The move is intended to encourage downtown visitors to park in the garages, which are not as heavily used as street parking.
by Jim Caroompas
Anyone who has tried parking in downtown Walnut Creek on a weekend evening knows that it can be as challenging as San Francisco. To address that problem, city officials are considering raising the on-street parking fees from $1 to $2 per hour, according to the Contra Costa Times.
The move isn't intended to boost the city's revenues, but rather to encourage them to use the downtown parking garages instead, according to officials. Sort of like social parking engineering.
In addition to raising the rates, the city is considering increasing the times of the meter operations, from its current range of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. to 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
"We want to use pricing as a parking management tool that allows us to ensure that the most parking is available to the most people," said assistant to the city manager Mark Huffaker.
Though the proposal has at least a month to work its way before the City Council, the Transportation Commission will hear about it at its meeting tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 19) at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 1666 N. Main St.
If you go, hopefully you'll be able to find a parking spot nearby.
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