Downtown Greensboro has been hearing a steady chorus of complaints about parking in recent months – and now the City of Greensboro says it’s taking steps to make things easier for people who live, work and visit downtown.
City officials announced this week that several changes are being rolled out following a series of “downtown walks” and meetings with business owners, property owners, residents and other stakeholders. According to the city, parking wasn’t the only issue raised during those conversations, but it was one where officials believe they can take relatively quick action.
Among the changes the city plans to implement are clearer parking rules, expanded free parking hours and more consistent enforcement.
One of the biggest changes will be the expansion of free parking hours. Beginning soon, parking in city-owned surface lots and on-street spaces will be free starting at 5 p.m. on weekdays. Parking in those locations will continue to be free on weekends as well.
City officials are also emphasizing that some free parking options already exist, but might not be widely known. For example, the first hour of parking in city parking decks is free until 7 p.m. Monday through Friday – and all city parking decks are free on Sundays. Surface lots and on-street spaces are also free after 5 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends and city-recognized holidays.
Another change the city says is coming is improved signage: Officials say clearer and more consistent signs will be installed both on streets and in surface parking lots in an effort to reduce confusion about parking rules.
At the same time, the city says that enforcement will become more consistent. Parking rules – including time limits and payment requirements – will be enforced as posted on signage throughout the downtown area.
The city is also working to make it easier for people to pay for parking using the ParkMobile system. Drivers can use the ParkMobile smartphone app or pay by phone through the company’s automated system.
Other changes are aimed at supporting downtown businesses. For instance, city officials say they will clarify and better mark loading zones used for deliveries, including those for food delivery and curbside pickup.
Outdoor dining areas that currently occupy on-street parking spaces will also be reviewed in coordination with the businesses leasing those areas.
In addition, city staff say they are working on the details of a parking program specifically for downtown service employees and are exploring possible validation programs that would allow businesses to help cover parking costs for customers.
According to the city, Greensboro currently provides more than 4,400 public parking spaces in city-owned parking decks, surface lots and on-street spaces downtown.
City leaders also stated this that the conversations will continue as the city looks for additional ways to improve the downtown experience.
The City Council has only been in place for three months. In that short time, they have demonstrated that they are not merely listening — they are actively engaging with the community and taking steps to address its concerns.
The city has addressed the quick wins but have said there will more to come.
Here are the comments from several local business owners that live downtown:
Although this is great progress, but it still doesn’t address the evenings and weekends in the parking decks, which has been their biggest concern.
As both a downtown resident and a business owner, weekends are often the only time many of us have the opportunity to generate meaningful revenue. If we truly want to support downtown businesses, parking policies during those peak times matter.
City leaders often reference other cities like Raleigh and Durham as examples and say we are trying to emulate their success. If that’s the case, we should also consider their parking approach in the decks. Both cities offer free nights and weekends in their parking decks, in addition to two hours of free parking during the week.
Right now, the current setup sends an unintended message to residents and visitors:
park on the street instead of using the decks. When street parking is free but decks are not, it encourages people to avoid the decks altogether because street parking is cheaper, more convenient, and often perceived as safer at night and on weekends.
That dynamic works against what downtown businesses have consistently asked for, which is better utilization of the parking decks and easier access for visitors during the times when businesses rely on them the most.
It’s our hope that this will be a part of the change in the near future.
just heard that the demolished davie st parking deck is going to be rebuilt into apartments & retail. your customers will walk in & walk home & will AVOID businesses requiring vehicle travel time & expense & risk. GO ROY E CARROLL II !! incidentally, walking to central library 3 hours ago i passed 3 wrecked vehicles & one ambulance with victim(s) @ smith & edgeworth; this is the 6th smashup i have seen @ this intersection & several @ every intersection around my n cedar st home
since i posted this comment i witnessed another smash up occur 80 feet from me @ w fisher/wharton st (no injuries) & another, yesterday, @ w market/n spring st with injury. downtown, i pass shards of vehicle mayhem EVERY DAY. FORD motor co : Found On Road Dead ! ( & FIX OR REPAIR DAILY)
How about stop tearing down what few parking decks we have for new buildings. Also how about not charging at all for parking in City owned parking decks and street parking and instead encourage people to come downtown and Park for free like they can everywhere else in the city. More Towing enforcement is not going to help people come downtown it’s going to discourage them because they don’t want to get towed when they can’t find any other spaces or pick the wrong space by mistake. Also not sure if this is still the case, but it used to be not long ago, if people drank too much and left their car in a parking lot overnight they would get towed which discouraged them from not driving drunk. Give it a time limit when they have to have it out the next day instead.
well at least we got that new february one parking deck opening soon, but i wish they would open more of those empty lots downtown to parking. dang marykay booze-waiter dont know how to run a city properly
I hate how they have open parking lots, but they require a ding-dang meter or a membership for some botanist club.
I will not use any apps to pay for anything over the phone. Ever. If I can’t use a debit or credit card or cash, I’m not paying. I guess that means I’m not coming downtown.
It’s Greensboro! Same old city council walks around downtown every few years. You will never match Raleigh or Charlotte so quit trying. No parking, questionable safety, nasty people living and buming on the streets. Is that what you want? Seems the multitude of programs your city and county tax dollars are allocated to are just pet projects with different names which benefit those that are in charge of said programs. It will always be ” downtown”.
ditto
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I can’t use apps or “ParkMate” or whatever – and I’m not interested in learning how.
They say they want to make parking easier and more accessible. But if that was true they’d bring back Parking Meters, wouldn’t they?
I mean, what’s easier than dropping a Quarter in a meter?
– EITHER DO THAT OR JUST MAKE PARKING FREE. Or I’m not coming back.
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They’ve made parking more inaccessible, more complicated, more expensive, and more frustrating.
Oh, and more limited, with fewer on-street spots.
It’s killing downtown.
OK, parking is presumably fixed… What about safety once you park your car?
You take your life in your hands walking from any street/deck parking, walking past the homeless “Park” and the mentally ill to get to/from Tanger Center or any downtown restaurant!
Definitely need more Police presence after 5:00pm.
Maybe the Mayor and Council should try walking at night… duck, run, and hide is our strategy. Try it when the next schitzo bum starts ranting at you or when you have to choose what side of the street to walk on to avoid trouble.
We had to walk in a group leaving from Tanger to ensure safety in numbers!
Rob Kasbow
all cultures find/develop ‘soma’. wut concerns me is that people aren’t getting together to play bridge, sports etc. but instead, are passive ‘receptors’ of (1st) theatre, music, radio, tv, cinema, screens etc instead of interacting/inventing with real live living luvin humans. instead they sit with THE FEELIES ! (thnx 4 recommending the book i had unread in stack for 50+ years
‘retail follows roofs’ (NPR Radio)
We went downtown after sundown last night. Nearby parking was full. We had took a chance in one direction, and parked 4 blocks away. Close to 10PM when we walked back to the car. We are not doing that again.
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And it used to be so easy… before they improved it.