New Meters on Monday

METERED PARKING BEGINS THIS WEEK

The (expensive) Covers come off Monday on Sarasota's new Pay-to-Park plan.

If you're leaving the island and heading downtown this week, remember that parking meters and pay stations in downtown Sarasota will be taking your money effective Monday, May 23, 2011. The meters and pay stations are part of an overall parking management system which assigns appropriate value to all public parking resources. That means the closer you are to where you want to go, it will likely cost you more. Metered parking enforcement hours will be Monday – Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. Free and low cost public parking still will be available in downtown.

Of the 2,300 public parking spaces in the downtown core, just 463 spaces are metered. Keep in mind all the parking options available:

• Free parking within walking distance
• Low-cost parking in public lots and garages at 50 cents per hour (Palm Avenue garage will remain free through October 2011)
• Premium on-street parking at $1.00 per hour

The goal is to have 15-percent of the most desirable on-street parking spaces available at any given time. That means visitors should be able to find an on-street parking space easily. That's according to city planners, mind you. The new pay stations are convenient and user friendly. Solar powered, they accept coins as well as Visa and Master Card. The amount you paid will be displayed on the screen. If you pay at a multi-space station, you can add more time to your parking space from any pay station on the same block. You will need to remember your 3-digit parking space number, which will be easily identifiable in purple on the curb at your space. A step-by-step guide on how to use the meters and pay stations is included in the Frequently Asked Questions.

Parking permits are available for $40 per month for those who spend a lot of time downtown. With a permit, you are allowed to park in a designated location – one of the City’s five public lots and two garages – for a month. Permits can be purchased at the Parking Division located in the Sarasota Police Headquarters, 2099 Adams Lane.

Volunteer ambassadors will be stationed throughout downtown the first week (Monday, May 23 – Saturday, May 30) to welcome visitors and help with parking questions. Each ambassador will be wearing a bright green parking information shirt and will provide color coded maps to assist visitors with their parking choices. It's really not that complicated, folks. The City is planning a second informational rollout during autumn when seasonal residents return and a third rollout during winter when tourists arrive. That's when the real squawking will start.  

A new public parking website is available. Visit www.sarasotagov.com and click the large P on the homepage. A detailed parking map, Frequently Asked Questions, and in-depth media interviews about the parking management program are posted on the site.

For more information, visit www.sarasotagov.com or contact Capt. Jeff Karr in the Parking Division: 941-954-7057.  ~BG