Parking Meters Spreading to Central Eastside?

Portland Mercury:

Though its director last year said the idea was "pre-recession" and apparently on hiatus, the Portland Bureau of Transportation today has announced (pdf) that parking meters—one part of a comprehensive "parking management plan" for the area—might soon be popping up in the city's Central Eastside Industrial District. The plan, written by city planners with help from businesses, is expected to go before Portland City Council next Thursday, June 21. Beyond creating a meter district, the plan also calls for permit parking, with two-hour limits for visitors. PBOT Director Tom Miller was down on the prospects of metered parking in the Central Eastside last year when the Mercury, amid a series of probing the causes and fallout of PBOT's recent budget troubles, asked him if was still happening. Mayor Sam Adams was more optimistic and appears to have gotten his way. The $1.3 million average annual operating cost of the new streetcar loop stretching from the Broadway Bridge to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry was supposed to be covered by new parking meters installed around the Central Eastside. But that was a "pre-recession" idea, says Miller: Business owners were set against installing meters, so for now, the meter plan is dead. To make up for the lost revenue, PBOT will be digging deeper into its own pockets. Mayor Adams says the meter plan will be revised, but that it's not off the table. For reference, here's a map (pdf) of the Central Eastside. Details about where the permit and meter spots will go weren't released. But they're expected to come out later today, when the city clerk's office posts next week's city council agenda. Now, if only the city would also talk more about market-rate parking... [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

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