A month after introducing a controversial ordinance, the Altoona Parking Authority is going back on its decision to begin charging for downtown street parking, but the city is still considering how to address rising parking issues and maintenance costs.
“Downtown has grown a lot," said Sherri McGregor, who chairs the parking authority. "Today there's not a parking issue, but when our Penn State students come back in the fall, what happens is, is that brings in a large number of people into the downtown as well as the businesses.”
Several businesses opened in the downtown area within the past several years. McGregor said that makes parking more limited on the street, especially when drivers leave their cars past the time allowed.
But, free parking has long been a selling point to bring visitors downtown. The city was looking to implement paid parking with a QR code-based payment system. Some local business owners said that could shut out people who don’t have smart phones, or who don’t understand the technology.
“Although if we want parking to be free, there really is no free parking, when you think of the maintenance and the monitoring and the staff time," McGregor said.
McGregor said adding fees to street parking would help cover needed improvements, including to the only public parking garage downtown. It has several malfunctioning lights, a water pump issue and a water problem in the elevator shaft.
For now, street parking remains free downtown and the parking authority is going back to the drawing board.
