The bright yellow tickets are coming fast and furious. My daughter racked up three $65 citations recently parked in front of our building. She received the notices while she slept, like a visit from the anti-tooth fairy. She doesn’t have to be at work until 11 a.m., and like most teenagers she keeps late hours.
Now she pays through the 10 p.m. time (or comes home later) and I pay the morning hours. Getting extra time on a recent morning cost $10.50. I’d tell her to walk or ride the streetcar to avoid this, but it’s generally unsafe after dark. I watched an attempted purse grab from my fifth-floor window this week and resigned myself to paying her meter. I think of the other residents who live in buildings that provide no parking their buildings who will take a hit. Tim, who lives in the Vista, said it costs his friends at least $10 to come over.
A Pearl business owner who runs an event space is concerned that it will be a real hardship for his staff. Most of the patrons, on the other hand, park in nearby lots, arrive on buses, or ride share.
The timing for the new hours could be a setback for a revitalizing downtown Portland. Go see a play, attend the symphony or support Higgins. It’s going to cost you a little bit more.
Rachael Lembo is the director of the Portland5, which includes all the major downtown performance venues.
Many of the fall season performances don’t start until 7:30 pm.
“We heard some concerns from patrons about some of the new regulations, and the city addressed many of these with a new “5 After 5” rule, which allows people to pay for parking for up to five hours, even in two-hour spots, after 5 pm,” she said.
She added that the goal of bringing people together in downtown Portland hasn’t changed.
“No matter how they get here, our events draw people downtown,” she said, adding that 800,000 people visited downtown in their 2024-25 fiscal year.
“We have a full fall season including dance, music, theatre and comedy. We’re excited to be a part of what brings people together in the heart of our region.”
Fall is a giddy, busy time. I hope my theater-loving mom will take me to a few plays at Portland Center Stage. Fortunately for us, we can walk there, and the only tickets we’ll have to pay will be for Storm Large.
If any of our District 4 Council members can get this stupid parking extension repealed, I’ll vote for them next year. The short-sighted decision to add more hurdles to business owners who are struggling to get folks out in the evening and activate our streets again is absurd. The Council should have directed the mayor and city administrator to find that money in their budgets and make the necessary cuts.
Just one more item on the "predatory government" list. The new city charter buries the various bureaucracies deeper under opaque layers while the 25-percenters on the council are clearly more interested in Vienna than the Pearl.