Parking Meter Rates to Quadruple in September

The cost of parking in city lots and on downtown streets in Glendale will quadruple next month when new rates approved by the City Council this week take effect.

Parking meter rates will jump from 5 cents to 20 cents an hour in parking lots and from 10 cents to 40 cents an hour at street meters.

City officials said the higher fees are intended to discourage office workers and store employees from parking on the streets. Instead, they will be urged to use car pools, public transportation or to park in structures at high-rises.

The rate increases are part of an overall plan to relieve traffic congestion and parking problems in the downtown redevelopment area, officials said. Other proposals include computerizing traffic signals and encouraging major employers to stagger work hours. The City Council is expected to act on those proposals late this month.

George A. Miller, public works director, said the new parking rates will help offset increased costs of maintaining city lots and provide funds to build new parking.

The rate rise is the first since the city established a parking fund 10 years ago. Miller said about $2.2 million is in the fund, but more is needed. The new rates are expected to increase annual revenues from about $274,000 this year to $610,000.

Miller said income from parking meters has increased substantially for several years because more people work and shop in the downtown redevelopment area. There are 1,755 parking meters downtown area and 234 in a lot next to the Civic Auditorium near Glendale College.

The city in June agreed to remove 197 meters from city lots at the Montrose Shopping Park at the request of merchants, who said the meters discouraged shoppers. But the rates for meters along Honolulu Avenue, the main street through the open mall, were increased from 25 cents to 50 cents an hour.

Parking along Brand Boulevard in downtown Glendale is free but is restricted to two hours.