CLEVELAND — The changes to Cleveland's ParkMobile on-demand parking system, approved by council June 1, went into effect Wednesday.
The legislation alters the hours for payment, which downtown has been required since Jan. 1 to be seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday, with Sundays free except for special events. Council's original version called for free parking after 8 p.m. and free before 4 p.m. on Saturdays, but was changed.
Outside of downtown, where payment since January has been required Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., would change to Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. with weekends free. In addition, the measure lowers downtown parking rates to $1 to $3 per hour and up to $8 per hour in Special Event Zones during special events.
Throughout the hearings, the council and the administration appeared to be working together on many of these changes. A post on Tuesday on the council's Facebook page hinted otherwise, stating, "Thanks to City Council, Mayor Bibb’s drastic on-street parking rate hikes earlier this year are coming to an end.
"The Mayor’s failed parking fee experiment ignored the needs of everyday Clevelanders and threatened to make downtown a place where only the well-off could afford to go. It’s a shame the Mayor didn’t listen to Clevelanders hurt by his rate increases and instead chose to let Council’s rate cuts take effect without his signature," the post read.
In a statement to News 5, Tyler Sinclair, a spokesperson for the City of Cleveland, spoke of the work the city is tasked with in making the changes called for by council.
"Hundreds upon hundreds of signs across the entire city will need to be modified to reflect the changes. This will require city employees to travel around the city to manually update every single sign – some of which will require special equipment to reach, given the heights at which they’re posted. These are Public Works employees who will have to be pulled away from critical work like resurfacing roads, repairing potholes, and other important jobs to improve our streets. This will take at least a month to complete and, due to council’s decision, will cost thousands and thousands of taxpayer dollars."
Another change called for by council was the requirement that pay stations where cash could be used for those not owning a smartphone must be placed within 600 feet of every downtown spot.
"Despite there already being 75 pay stations across the city as well as modern mobile solutions (call + text + app), the City will also have to install 37 more pay stations that will cost an additional ~ $250,000 in taxpayer dollars – all thanks to city council," wrote Sinclair. "This is important to note because nearly HALF of all current pay stations collect LESS THAN $20 in cash PER MONTH."
The lack of signage is confusing to visitors like Eric Kennedy from Strongsville, who parked at a previously metered spot where only the pole remained after the meter was removed.
"A person would see that and it wouldn't be on, so you would think wow, free parking," said Kennedy. "I thought there wasn't a meter so thank you for telling me I'll go ahead and scan this," he said after News 5 explained the new parking system and pointed him to the ParkMobile QR code.
"That's all they show for advertisement right here?" he asked.
The administration previously told council they are working to improve all aspects of the system and working with businesses that complained the new parking rates were driving customers away. One of them was Aladdin's at 13th and Carnegie, where customers had to pay $1.85 just to run in and pick up takeout and if it was an event day like Wednesday's Guardians game, that jumped to $8.
Working with them, the city provided two spots outside for 30-minute parking to allow customers to run in and out.
"We want a process that Clevelanders can understand," Councilman Kevin Bishop previously told News 5. "We don't want folks to be shocked with the prices to park, we want them to have a clear sense of what they're going to pay to park."
That's why he said these changes to the new system will likely not be the last.
"I think we need to keep this dialogue open with the parking department to see if this is working. We want to make sure Clevelanders are being able to access their own neighborhoods and their own downtown and that is very important to us," Bishop said.
