Task force reviews downtown Bloomington parking

Posted on July 19, 2017
Downtown Parking Sign
The Downtown Bloomington Task Force is reviewing how to steer more parking to the city decks. (Adam Studzinski/WJBC)

By Alyssa Paldo/WMBD 31

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington’s downtown task force is looking to solve what it calls a parking problem.

A downtown study reveals much of the street parking shortage in front of downtown restaurants and businesses happens during lunchtime. Many people who come downtown for the lunch rush park directly in front of the business rather than in the parking decks. On average, the city says the decks are only at about 60 percent capacity.

One idea to free up space and encourage people to park in the decks is to add parking meters, a solution favored by Alderman Jamie Mathy.

“We could use parking meters in the spaces and use those meters to keep the garages free for everybody all the time so there’s never a charge to park in the garage,” Mathy explained. “That solves a lot of the issues for our retail for our restaurants and for our bars.”

Another potential solution brought up was changing enforcement for downtown residents who use street parking.

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