Council Discusses Parking Rate or Fine Increase
The City Council study session touched on several topics Wednesday night, including whether to raise parking fees or raise parking fines.
City Council is also asking for data on parking tickets, apparently trying to determine whether raising fines might generate additional funding rather than raising parking fees.
When any changes will take place still hasn’t been shared. We are told by one councilman that this is “information gathering” right now and no action is planned yet.
With the parking system hemorrhaging, odds are good a change will come sooner rather than later.
Stay tuned . . .
March 10th, 2011 at 8:58 am
There seems to be a lot that happens in city hall that isn’t shared. It doesn’t matter if they raise the ticket fines to $100.00 you have to have people that park there violate the system before they can get a ticket.
Last week I met friends for lunch and we all realized when we were leaving that we would have expired meters and tickets when we got to out cars. Guess we were lucky because none of us received tickets. It was rather amazing though – the parking enforcement truck was blocking in one of the women and had to move when she got into her car.
March 10th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Sunday is my West Dearborn day. I don’t carry change and I don’t like to have to worry about feeding the meter when I’m at leisure. I guess I’m just an old fuddy duddy who has never embraced this program. I would be more at ease with an out of sight out of mind assessment. Oh well, there are probably not too many that think like me.
March 10th, 2011 at 4:10 pm
There really is not much reason to park in the lots or at the meters anyway. Real retail is about gone. I am usually in and out in less than 30 minutes to go to the few remaining stores. As far as restaurants, no way will I sit and relax and eat why the meter is ticking. There are still plenty of places in Dearborn to eat that have free parking. We all vote with our wallets.
March 10th, 2011 at 4:29 pm
Do you think our city leaders all smoked some of that medical marijuana prior to this meeting?
March 10th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
Raise the parking rate? that’s ridiculous. There’s no demand for parking now. Notice how the lots are pretty much empty. No one is coming to W. Dearborn anymore. Whether it’s the parking, the economy, Allen Park mall, Fairlane, or whatever, there’s really no reason to pay to park to shop in W. Dearborn. People will just go (and have gone) elsewhere.
March 10th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
I went to Pizza Papalis for dinner last week with my husband and let me tell you—if they hike the price of those meters any higher, I’ll park at my church and walk. Nobody carries the amount of change required when you’re seated, deciding on an order, waiting the 40 minutes it takes to bake a deep dish pizza and trying to have a leisurely meal around it!
March 10th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
I’ve invested in 3 different businesses in Dearborn within the last 5 years. The parking really is a hassle and a main complaint by customerss. If they increase fines/rates I vow to never invest in Dearborn again. All of us in Dearborn already have it difficult enough so why now make it even more unattractive for people to frequent? Someone better get their head out of their a$$ and starting getting REAL. How about the WDDD or Chamber of Commerce make a fight against all this parking? For those who do not think parking is an issue, I would have agreed BEFORE the new Allen Park shopping structures were developed, however now we are in direct competition with that area be it retail or food/drink.
March 10th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Frank, your not alone there are a lot of us “fuddy duddies’ in Dearborn.
March 10th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
First off people will pay to park if there is a reason to. Parking at lions game often exceeds $20 dollars. If your downtown is simply commodity style, bars and restaurants then people will follow the path of least resistance. The issue is not fee parking but why even go there when anything there is available in any number of locations. Downtown West Dearborn needs sustainable organic growth. Starbucks, Panera, BW’3s, etc etc are a dime a dozen.
March 10th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Does the Mayor realize how people feel after getting a ticket? They won’t be coming back to shop or eat in that area again. They will be heading to Allen Park where the parking is free. Way to go chasing customers away. Soon there will be no place to shop or eat because there will be no customers.
March 11th, 2011 at 8:34 am
The word is “unsustainable,” as in the paid parking situation in West Dearborn is . . .
WBfD makes a very valid point – one ticket and you probably will think more than twice about coming back.
RB is right – the chains are not that much of a draw. I’ve gotten a lot of tickets in Ann Arbor over the years, but that was in a downtown that doesn’t have a single chain restaurant.
Remember when we had all those free lots, wide open on both sides of Michigan Ave? Who thought paid parking was a good idea? Where are they now?
March 11th, 2011 at 8:47 am
yes, that is the issue. I had 10 people, from Ford, at the Moose last night and because the meters there can only take an hour’s worth of money, there were a few tickets and I doubt those people will come back. they were pissed. if the meters are going to be there, let people out in up to 3 hours of money!
March 11th, 2011 at 8:54 am
What a joke.
The city seems to believe that the solution to a horrible problem is to make it even more horrible.
In the long run, it won’t really matter. The lots are practically empty now. The few businesses that are left, will be gone soon.
We always hear about the “Master Plan”. I have finally figured out what the “Master Plan” is for West Dearborn. It is make the area a ghost town and then sell tickets to it like they do out West.
March 11th, 2011 at 8:59 am
Sunday is “free” day in Downtown West Dearborn: let’s park for free and then head into Panera Cares for a free breakfast.
March 11th, 2011 at 9:56 am
The fairest and easiest solution is for businesses to validate parking for their cusotmers. The costs for convenient parking are part of doing business and all of the newer malls and strip malls have their own parking lots. The costs are baked into lease rates.
I am a lifelong 70 year Dearborn resident who has seen the problems from the inside. Special assessments work poorly:
1. How do you equitably spread the costs?
You need a costly bureaucracy to jump through all tyhe legal and political hoops every 2 to 5 years to renew assessments which often go unpaid and delinquent. The old system tried to tailor fees to someone’s determination of how many spaces were required based on square feet of space adjusted by the type of business and number of employee spaces.All taxpayers bear the costs of the overhead and delinquencies.
2. Assessment renewals and updates were regularly delayed or even skipped while political wrangling and lobbying for favors and breaks by businesses – more costs to general taxpayers.
Just advertise and VALIDATE your customer’s parking and quit the whining if you did not have the foresight to ensure your own parking.
Either that or form a business cooperative to lease and run the parking. As a general taxpayer, I don’t want to subsidize poorly run businesses who are unable to provide parking when the city os facing huge deficits.
The Old Wizard
March 11th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Then why is the city “subsidizing” these “poorly run businesses”? If the city can’t afford the lots, just close them down, do no maintenance on them and put them up for sale and back onto the tax rolls. Oh yeah, what about the parking decks? Talk about “poorly run businesses”. I don’t want to subsidize them either.
March 12th, 2011 at 12:48 am
The paid parking was a mistake when it was being implemented in either 2006 or 2007. It’s not been an area demanding of a paid-parking system in decades! And to follow that with the financial meltdown of 2008 (and what it did to the economy!)—the businesses that came and went (smart of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to make the move to Allen Park!)—it’s a disaster.
I think it will take quite a long time to revitalize the area. And even that is doubtful (in my lifetime; I’ll be 40 this year!). West Dearborn—on Michigan Ave.—can’t do what Royal Oak has succeeded in doing: getting people to pay for parking so that they can party there over the weekends in their favorite hangouts. This is an old area. So, I think we’ll just see more of the same: for every four or five businesses that open, perhaps one will survive.
March 12th, 2011 at 6:48 am
I love Deep Said’s blog. As far as the comments elicited by proposed parking rate hikes are concerned, I agree most with Janet. Unfortunately, she’s correct and therein lies the real problem for Dearborn. Why worry about parking rate hikes – few people spend enough time in West Dearborn to pay parking fees (unless you are at Pizza Papalis waiting for your deep dish to be baked). Dearborn really needs to re-imagine and re-develop its Michigan Avenue. Otherwise, we are just going to be another low-rise aging city with nothing to offer. Hey, wait a minute … I think we already are another low-rise aging city. It’s depressing to drive down Mich. Ave. and see the vacant buildings left by failed businesses.
A couple of years ago I received a survey from the Dearborn development office that requested ideas of what I would like to see in a re-developed East Dearborn with a focus around the area of the the torn down Wards department store (my mother worked there as a teenager). I completed the survey with gusto and offered several [I thought fun and energizing] ideas. So, what’s been built on the site of the old Ward’s dept. store? A medical complex. Now, there’s a real pick-me-upper for the city. Not that the development office had to select my ideas, but a medical office? Please. Do we need anymore reminders that Dearborn is an aging, unfun and dying city?
And, after reading the resident comments to this parking hike blog entry and to many of others where Deep reports about city related money concerns, I am struck by what a bunch of cheap old duds live here. Are you all receiving health care at our new medical complex?
March 12th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
It isn’t paid parking or the cost. Its two things it is not convenient for shopper/customers to have to feed meters and there is no attraction to downtown West Dearborn, the mix is all wrong. Bars, OK I suppose the drinkers can do a bar crawl every weekend or every night if thay want to, but how meny restaurant can you frequent in one night.
More things to see, more things to do is what might spur some attendance to the area. Does RO have bars? yes! do they have restaurants? yes! Can you have dinner and walk around afterward and see things? Yes! There is nothing to do and nothing to see in DTWD, no shops, (people do still window shop) no activities, nothing to do with a family. If our “leaders” would think out of box to build more activities. maybe the parking would take care of itself. Things like side-streets closures with maybe a street fair or some exposition, small art show. free entertainment (let a musician standing out on the corner or in the “Pocket Park” and throw out a jug for donations. Artist doing drawing, I see these thing in Greektown, Ann Arbor, Royal Oak, Birmingham.
I thought the Price’s property was going to be a place with activities where the public could go and see a street show or public event and not just a fancy parking lot and a place for the smokers to hang out and get their nicotine fix. at least that was what our “leader” told us as they were fighting legal battles over the property. M.U.T.S. is a start but not anough.
Sure 10 until 2:30am push the bars. But, from 6 until 10 make DTWD a place for everyone to attend, Families, non-drinkers, kids, the aged. Make all of the area a destination. I’ve heard that prase used before ” a destination” we’ve talked about it long before this administration, now lets finally do it.
March 12th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
I just had another thought about the Price’s location. Close it off put another Pocket Park with a small stage type area, maybe in the winter a skating rink like Campus Martius in Detroit. force all that parking into the structures, thay are located within a short distance, and would have more usage then at present. Hourly rate until 6 and 3$ flat fee after, since there wouldn’t be meters in the structures no one would be getting a ticket.
March 12th, 2011 at 11:37 pm
Dearborns history is to always make a mistake and then instead of admitting it they just compound it with a bigger mistake. The first of many mistakes was to put all restaurants and bar’s in west dearborn and do away with and not bring in any retail stores,i believe the reason for this was not to steal business away from “scarelane” mall. Thats ok,Allen park just came in and stole all of the business from the mall instead of west dearborn. So now west dearborn’s business district looks like a ghost town,dearborn residents still do not shop at scarelane mall and Allen park reaps the rewards from our past and current administrations incompetence. Its sad but the only time i spend money in dearborn is at Krogers or maybe a fast food chain,anything else i need i find myself in allen park,livonia,novi.
March 14th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Milwood Fordson you have very logical idea’s but this cities administration would never think so far outside the box,and yes an outside ice rink is thinking way outside the box for this regime. This city will never be like or do things a lot of other cities do to provide fun for its residence within a business district.
You want music in a pocket park ? They will tell you there is a noise ordinance or that it will take away from the bars that have bands playing inside, you want an ice rink? They will tell you it is a liability and opens the city up to lawsuits. You want any type of fun? That would mean the dearborn police would have to bring in their Mobil command trailer and an army of officers,large area’s of parking lots would have to be fenced in with snow fence so that anybody with a drink in their hand couldn’t escape!
This city is scared of its own shadow and its regime lives under lawsuit paranoia,its the sad reality until we get a new mayor that thinks outside the box and is willing to act on it.
March 15th, 2011 at 7:56 am
Milwood,
I like your idea of a skating park in downtown west Dearborn (DTWD). I’ve mentioned this to city leaders on numerous occasions, but my idea is that an outside contractor build it and own it, as the city doesn’t have the money to do so. It could be a nice, ice skating rink in the winter and converted to a roller-blade, rollerskating park in the warmer weather. There would be a competitive price charged for entry. I also believe the rink would have to have high visibility, especially to commuter traffic, as people driving by and seeing it might stop or bring their kids.
This might bring people into DTWD and also keep them in DTWD for quite some time. It may also allow parents to drop off their kids and parents go on their way to shopping or whatever. I’ve suggested building it in an area that has many restaurants if possible, which may help those struggling businesses.
Right now, the only land I know if is where the motel used to be at Brady and Michigan, but this is not in the heart of downtown, so I’m not sure that would be the best location.
March 15th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
Michael, unfortunately, your reasoning emphasizes why Dearborn will never get ahead of the game.
I agree with you that the skating ring/rollerblading park would be a great idea, however, what major city do you know thinks that 4 blocks of business means “Downtown”? What is the “heart of downtown” in Dearborn.
The area that you described is not owned by the City. It is owned by the bank.
I also agree with the people who say that the city is known for trying to correct their mistakes with bigger mistakes.
To those who think that the businesses are poor planners and should go it alone. most the successful business were there before paid parking went into effect. Those who remain ( those not run into bankruptcy by the parking situation and the greedy landlords), are stuck in a horrible situation. Many of the successful business were run out by the “Master Plan” to make way for the disaster that is there now.
I agree that until all of this (greedy landlords, compounded city mistakes, the poor economy, and the great “master plan” go away, nothing good will happen in the area.
Do we really want to see it even worse than it is now?
March 15th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Cloe,
The land I mentioned is at the corner of Michigan and Brady and owned by the City of Dearborn. The land I believe you thought I meant is at the corner of Michigan and Military.
It’s too bad that wasted pocket park area on Michigan between Monroe and Mason is so small, as if it were much larger, that would be an idea area for a multi-use skating park, making it be surrounded by restaurants.
March 16th, 2011 at 9:02 am
And let us not forget that the city spent $300,000 to create the pocket park on Michigan Avenue between Monroe and Mason.
March 17th, 2011 at 10:26 am
Inreasing the cost and fines is another way of attracting business to Dearborn. It is not enough that Dearborn has a reputation as one of the hardest cities to do business in now.
March 23rd, 2011 at 3:26 pm
You can put lipstick on a Pig, but it’s a still a P–?
March 31st, 2011 at 11:12 am
One of the problems with West Dearborn is that Michigan Ave is owned by MDOT. Downtown Royal Oak and Grosse Pointe do not have a Major higway running through them.
The parking meters in both places are for multiple hours.
They both have businesses with openings to the street, West Dearborn does not for the most part.
Closing the parking lot in the old Prices property would certainly force people to park in the structures.
I think the parking enforcement officer is employed by Allen Park, because is doing his best to chase customers out of West Dearborn.
April 1st, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Mine is a simple complaint, and I have no problem with feeding meters…but the last two times I parked at dearborn meters they were both broken. I have lived in royal oak and worked in downtown detroit and birmingham and this is the first time I have ever parked at a meter that was broken and was not marked, I fed the meter 3 dollars before I realized and was already late for a meeting and out of change so I left my car and of course received a ticket. The second time, tonight in fact, and two months after the last time I parked at another broken meter. I don’t mind paying the fines or for parking, but i would like to think that my money was being used to repair the meters. Since having to move and put more money in another meter is not fair.