Get Rid of Downtown Charlottesville Parking Meters

I will not come Downtown while these meters remain in place. The city's rollout of this program was absolutely abhorrent.

Count me in as a Charlottesville citizen who thinks meters downtown are a bad idea.

These meters go against all the reasons we love living in a small city. You should not have to pay to park on the streets in the heart of our city. This drives people and revenue away from the small businesses that make this community a thriving one. Life is complicated enough - this pilot is a failure and should be eliminated.

I would like to add that the meters also create a challenge for those who work downtown.

Just a very bad idea.

Remove the meeters

The pilot has failed; use the knowledge to come up with a better solution. First hour free is an excellent decision for garage parking. But the time-consuming task of parking, getting out, looking for a "meter" ticket dispenser, payaing, walking back to the car, and then going to our destination is TOO MUCH. People would rather drive up and park free(ly) at Barracks Road, Seminole Square, Shopper's World, Fashion Square, Albemarle Square, RIo Hill, or Target. That is a LOT of ways to bankrupt locally owned downtown businesses. Don't make them fight so hard. Come up with something SMART that will have the entire nation singing your praises in a viral video that shows how towns can do this right. This is your chance to redeem yourself as a small city.

They are awful for the business’ downtown.

Too expensive and unnecessary; they encourage people to go somewhere else to shop, eat, drink; do not help business; still need an answer to parking issues for downtown workers.

They are overly complicated and puts a bad face on the city.

these meters hurt small downtown businesses like mine.

These meters suck! Who asked for them? Nobody but somebody who's making money off of it. Get rid of them!

We have seen a dramatic decrease in guests coming down to the Mall for dinner. We consistently hear from guests how confusing the meters are to work, and wondering why a small town like Charlottesville would have them. Further, 2 hours is not enough time to eat lunch or dinner and also shop. We should be encouraging people to come downtown and do many things. 2 hours is not enough time to do so.

the city already rips us off ; enough is enough

It is unacceptable shock doctrine that the city moved in during the immediate wake of a12 to spend valuable money on crap. Down town businesses are already having a tough time, what with nazis being considered acceptable as long as they aren't actively dragging a body behind their cars. End this crap and save downtown businesses to thrive instead of suffer.

Today (Thur 12/14) I had a 1-hour meeting scheduled downtown at lunchtime. I am healthy and the weather was nice, so I do not mind walking several blocks after parking in a 2-hr free spot. There were none vacant to be found. NONE. I spent 12 minutes driving around looking. Frustrated, and now running late for my meeting, I pulled into the Water St garage. There, I had to drive up 3 levels before I found a spot, which cost me money I didn't want to spend. This is not the first time this has happened to me. I had no choice today, I had to go downtown for my meeting. But I normally avoid going downtown for personal reasons (shopping, lunch) on a weekday because of parking. I'm not sure removing the meters will help much, but that certainly is a start.

As a downtown small business owner the meters it is already hard enough to guide and get people downtown for our services. Meters negatively impact our regular clientele and discourage new business.

We hear from our customers on a daily basis how difficult it is to park downtown, and have heard only negative feedback about these meters. The city needs to find ways to encourage people to shop and eat downtown. The meters are a huge step in the wrong direction.

The meters discourage visits to the downtown area. I’d like to emphasize concerns of safety as well, with cost and 2 hour limitation some are forced to park further from the businesses they are visiting, this has swayed my own decision to go there particularly now that it is dark earlier and the time limitation extends to 8 pm. I live in the county but teach yoga in 2 downtown locations.

The parking meters are highly detrimental to my downtown non-profit music School, which brings hundreds of people downtown per week. It has harmed our business by making parking more difficult, time consuming, and costly for our patrons and our staff (which includes 26 professional musicians).