Downtown Raleigh Business Owners Tout Success of Two-Hour Free Parking Pilot

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Good morning, readers.

By all accounts, the City of Raleigh’s two-hour free parking pilot program has been a resounding success. 

According to surveys from the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, 91 percent of local business owners said the program, which offers two hours of free parking in five city-owned decks, had a high impact on the health of their business; 88 percent of about 700 community members who were surveyed said the pilot increases their likelihood of visiting downtown. 

That’s likely why Raleigh’s city council voted unanimously to extend the pilot program through 2025 at its meeting Tuesday.

But, post-pandemic, the city’s formerly self-sustaining parking fund no longer pays for itself; while the overall enterprise is budgeted to lose $2.7 million this year, the city would lose around $240,000 annually in parking revenues if the two-hour free parking program became permanent. 

City council member Jonathan Lambert-Melton called that figure a drop in the bucket at yesterday’s meeting. 

“When we see this type of feedback, more folks coming downtown, business owners telling us they’ve seen an increase in traffic solely because of this program, the [downtown Poyner] YMCA saying they’ve had their best month—there’s got to be some impact on sales tax revenue,” Lambert-Melton said. “More foot traffic and people in our decks downtown is obviously going to have an impact on public safety, both real and perceived. So I would be interested in having a more holistic discussion about the positive impacts of this program.”

While the city will have to find some way to recoup its parking losses, or get out of the parking business altogether, the free parking pilot is here to stay, at least through the rest of this year. 

Read about what business owners have to say about the pilot and what options the city could consider to recover its losses. 

And if all this talk of getting out and about has you looking for things to do in the Triangle, INDY culture editor Sarah Edwards has you covered with picks like a performance at Duke showcasing works by Florence Price, a celebrated pianist born in 1887 and the first Black woman to have her music played by a major symphony.

 —Jane

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Durham

North Carolina Central University is the only HBCU with an American Library Association accredited Library Science program. The program continues working to increase diversity among librarians, ABC11 reports. 

Wake

Raleigh’s iconic Irregardless is turning fifty. With several celebration dinners planned at the restaurants, owner Lee Robinson is looking to “take the place back to its roots, being a neighborhood spot” for the years ahead. The INDY’s Jane Porter has all the details.

Orange

All but one member of the UNC Board of Trustees who has completed required paperwork disclosing their financial interests has the “potential for a conflict of interest,” The Daily Tar Heel reports.

North Carolina

Democrats in the state legislature have introduced a bill to once again remove political affiliations from judicial elections across the state. The proposal is in honor of the late Rep. Joe John, who “believed that partisanship had no place in the judiciary,” our partners at NC Newsline report.

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