CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte City Council held a workshop on Wednesday, providing input on the proposed 2023 budget. During the meeting, some of the Council didn’t see eye to eye on the new parking proposal. If the proposal passed, it would be 50 cents more per hour to park at any metered spot in the Uptown and South End neighborhoods.
Parking hasn’t changed since 1997. At that time, the most popular children’s toy was a Tamagotchi and Elton John was topping the charts -- this was the year parking was established in Charlotte.
The price to park was established at $1 an hour at metered spots.
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said this change would promote parking turnover in South End and Uptown. The plan would discourage people from taking up a spot for a potential paying customer.
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“This parking issue is an important one,” Lyles said. “We've got to create the parking so you can go into the city and park, but not for three days at a time.”
But some on the Charlotte City Council like Tariq Bokhari said this is the opposite of what the City of Charlotte should be doing.
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“It doesn’t make any sense,” Bokhari said. “If come out and take the easy way out and increase fees and don’t figure out the other things to use a broader system, you’re failing.”
WCNC Charlotte spoke with people who said on this topic, they wish the city would stay stuck in the '90s. People added they felt parking is already terrible and an added fee would only add inconvenience.
According to the plan, an increase would add $700,000 in revenue to the city. Mayor Lyles said with inflation, the hourly rate should be $1.70, but the city decided to stick with $1.50.
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