Parking in Northwest Portland at a discount

Documentation not needed to get a break on Zone M annual permits

To park in Zone M, which encompasses most of the Northwest District, residents must buy annual permits at a cost of $211. Permit holders are exempted from paying the meters, which are aimed at short-term parkers.

The cost of a permit is only $91 for residents who certify that they are low income. No one checks for documentation. Low-income guidelines used by the Portland Housing Bureau designate $23,700 annual income as the 30 percent threshold for a a household of one and $31,600 as the 40 percent threshold, but that’s only a suggestion. Permit applicants can decide for themselves if they feel they qualify.

About half of the Zone M permit holders take the low-income option.

The citizen advisory board that monitors Zone M policies decided from the start that there would be no checking on income levels of those seeking the discounted rate. They also realized that the district has many small, low-cost apartment units despite the area’s reputation as a trendy shopping area. When they realized that about half were receiving the discounts, they did not consider it a problem needing action.

Maybe the laissez faire approach still works. But one advisor raised the point this month.

“That’s a loophole that we’ve never closed,” Jeanne Harrison said. “I don’t see why it couldn’t be closed.”