The City of Austin is holding a public forum next Tuesday evening in the hopes of finding out what you think about extending parking meter hours. But if you can't make that public forum, you should register your opinion on the city's online survey.
ity Council is considering extending the hours you must pay for street parking downtown from 8 a.m. until midnight. Currently, meters are active between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. The proposal would also extend meter hours city-wide from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.
We completed the survey. It takes about 5 minutes. The survey tries to establish if you live downtown, if you visit downtown, where you park downtown, whether you would be interested in paying for more convenient parking, and how you would like to see that money invested. At the end of the survey, there is an area where you can write additional comments.
As we reported earlier, the city's Urban Transportation Commission and Downtown Commission are holding open meetings this month at Austin City Hall to discuss the plan. They're having a public input session on Tuesday, January 11th. Here are the details:
- January 4: Meeting of a joint subcommittee of the Urban Transportation Commission and Downtown Commission from 10 a.m.to noon at Austin City Hall in the Boards and Commissions Room
- January 11: Public hearing on extended parking hours at 6 p.m. at Austin City Hall in the Boards and Commissions Room
- January 19: Meeting of the Downtown Commission at 2 p.m. at Austin City Hall in the Boards and Commissions Room
- February 8: Meeting of the Urban Transportation Commission at 6 p.m. at Austin City Hall in the Boards and Commissions Room
Some of the key players in this decision are telling City Council to slow down the process of deciding whether to extend meter hours, but with a municipal election pending later this year, and the need to pass a city budget, the decision might be made sooner rather than later.
