Why Not Triple Parking Fees Downtown, Rip Out 50 Parking Spaces and Create A Ghost Town?

Downtown Brownsville is For Rent, For Sale, For Lease and forlorn.  Downtown business owners religiously wash the sidewalk out front, flip the cardboard sign from "closed" to "open" and hope to sell enough lunch plates, herbs, used clothing or dollar beers to remain another month.  On each side and across the street others have failed, a dozen or so clubs in the last half year, dozens of other assorted enterprises in the two years before that.

City Planning Director Ramiro Gonzalez states emphatically that the businesses that failed were "poorly run," but, in fairness, he's been "running" downtown revitalization" for three years.  A video clip of Ramiro has been playing over and over again on Brownsville TV, Channel 12, with the planner in a North Face hoodie, explaining that an increase in parking fees downtown "will turn over those spaces for new customers, instead of being used by store employees who feed the meter all day."

Ironically, the city's staff enjoys free parking downtown. Mercedes-Benz, BMWs and other high dollar vehicles are sprinkled downtown with City of Brownville I.D. cards hanging on the rear view mirror.  It's one of the perks of their city position, along with salaries quadrupling that of the average downtown employee or customer.

Tripling parking fees, it is said, will create a revenue stream that can be used for downtown revitalization.  Planner Gonzalez already has a use in mind for the additional revenue he anticipates; new credit card accessible parking meters.  Of course, there's no guarantee that tripling parking rates downtown will increase revenue.  The payback for fancy new meters could be a long time in coming, especially if the city follows through on rumored plans to eliminate 50 parking spaces on one side of Adams Street for a new bike lane.  At what point does the city chase away all downtown business?  Maybe, everyone should simply shop at Sunrise Mall and eat at the food court.  

For those with an interest in this issue, the city is holding a Town Hall meeting today at 5:30 PM on the ground floor of Market Square.  Parking meter collection stops at 5:30, so parking will be free.