J Magazine Winter 2018

WHY WE
DON’T
FEED
THE
METER
Despite the notion
that Downtown parking
is hard to find, a recent
study shows 37 percent of
available public parking
spaces are vacant
BY CAROLE HAWKINS
PHOTOS BY BOB SELF
Today, it costs 25 cents
to park for a half-hour at a curbside
space Downtown. As far as Jack Shad,
an urban planning consultant and the
former head of Jacksonville’s Office of
Public Parking, can tell, that’s the same
rate it was back in the 1980s.
“I think that was back when you
could buy Coke for something like a
quarter,” he quipped.
The absence of parking-fee inflation
might sound great for customers. But
it’s costing Jacksonville.
Right now, it’s cheaper to park at a
streetside meter than it is to park in a
garage, where rates begin at $1 per hour
and soar to as high as $5 per hour. Since
curbside spots are so much cheaper,
and certainly more convenient, some
Downtown workers park their cars at
meters all day long.
If you’re an infrequent visitor to
Downtown, that means you’ll be hard
pressed to find curbside parking — the
most straightforward type of parking
space. And that creates the impression
that Downtown doesn’t have enough
parking.
When Brian Hughes looks at one
number related to Downtown parking,
he doesn’t see much of an issue.
According to a recent consultant study,
only 63 percent of the urban core’s
10,768 parking spaces are occupied
during the busiest part of the work
week. That means 37 percent of the
spaces are vacant.
“Feeling is one thing, but reality is
different,” said Hughes, chief of staff to
Mayor Lenny Curry and interim CEO of
the Downtown Investment Authority.
“The overarching thing the data shows
is there’s a remarkable amount of
vacancy.”
But other numbers tell a different
story.
WINTER 2018-19 | J MAGAZINE 83