Five weeks after free parking became available in downtown Eugene, business owners and managers are noticing improvements but still see need for change.
In early October, city officials removed parking meters and created two-hour free parking spots in a 12-block radius downtown in order to attract more people to shop, eat and visit downtown Eugene.
“I think it’s great, and it’s opening up people’s minds to coming downtown,” said Mitra Chester, who owns the fashion shops Deluxe and Kitsch with her husband Aaron.
Potala Gate co-owner Kyizom Wangmo noticed positive customer feedback, and said the fact that people don’t have to worry about parking meters is an improvement.
“It’s a positive thing for me and customers,” Wangmo said.
Harlequin Beads and Jewelry owner Stacy Bierma said she saw that the new free parking spaces have caused a reduction in turnover rates.
“It might be harder to find a spot now,” she said.
Besides giving drivers two hours of free parking, all downtown parking garages offer free parking for the first hour and free parking all day on Saturdays and Sundays.
Shoe-A-Holic manager Julie Schafer said that even though city officials added free parking spaces, there is still not enough parking in downtown Eugene.
“There’s still not a lot of parking, but it definitely makes people happy to not plug a meter before they go shopping,” Schafer said.
Hutch’s Bicycle Shop service manager Darren Ohl noted both the positives and negatives of the free parking spaces.
“I think it’s a good idea, but it will take some time to pay off,” Ohl said.
Downtown Eugene has a reputation for being unsafe and this reputation might draw away potential traffic to small businesses, Ohl said.
However, business owners agreed the city is doing the best it can given the current economy, and free parking is a step in the right direction.
Owners also discussed how University students make up a small population of the shoppers and diners that visit downtown Eugene.
“Students have no reason to come downtown,” Ohl said, citing all of the restaurants and shops located next to campus. “Downtown could do a better job for (the college) demographic.”
Chester said downtown has a great night life scene, but she added there needs to be more daytime retail commerce downtown.
“It would be hugely beneficial,” she said.
In January, city officials and members of the Community Planning Workshop, an experimental branch of the University’s department of planning, public policy and management, will review the program.
The free parking program will run from Oct. 1, 2010, until Sept. 30, 2012. The free two-hour parking spaces are located between Seventh and 11th Avenues from Lincoln Street to Willamette Street.
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