GLENDALE : City Raising Rates on Downtown Meters

Parking in downtown Glendale is about to get more expensive, but city officials insist that higher rates at meters will eventually bolster the economy by making more spaces available and raising money for two new parking structures.

“The primary objective is to provide more parking for customers of downtown businesses,” City Manager David Ramsay said of rate hikes approved by the Glendale City Council last week. Meter rates will increase by up to 20 cents per hour in some of the more heavily used lots.

City officials say merchants along North Brand Boulevard have long complained that there is inadequate parking in that area, and that people who work downtown take many of the public spaces. Backers of the parking plan say people will now be encouraged to park for shorter periods, thus leaving more spaces for customers.

“People tend to park for extended lengths of time,” said Jack Quinn, chairman of the Glendale Economic Advisory Council, a group of business people that supported the measure. “We felt this would help the turnover.”

Under the new plan, on-street parking spaces will cost 60 cents an hour, an increase of 10 cents. Off-street parking in metered public lots with a two- or three-hour limit will jump from 30 cents to 50 cents an hour, and from 30 cents to 40 cents an hour in lots with a 10-hour limit.

The rate increase, coupled with the extension of meter operation by two hours to 8 p.m. in many lots, is expected to reap an extra $404,000 a year in parking revenues, city officials said.

The city’s parking fund currently has about $9.3 million available for construction of new garages, which is not enough to build two proposed structures--one at Harvard Street and Maryland Avenue with about 1,500 spaces, and another on Orange Street near Wilson Avenue with about 600 spaces.

The increase in parking revenues will enable the city to issue bonds or borrow money to build the garages, said Brian Butler, the city’s finance director.

“The construction of parking certainly has benefited other communities like Pasadena and Santa Monica,” said Quinn. “It makes the area more attractive to retailers.”

Public Works Director George Miller said he expects a few complaints from people disgruntled by the rate hikes, but added that the city is working with the Chamber of Commerce and other groups to alert the public before the increases take effect in about two months.