Parking Meters Could Be Coming To Brady District

The Brady Art's District has blossomed into one of the top places to be downtown.

The increase in traffic means a decrease in parking spaces, which has the Tulsa City Council talking about parking meters.

That discussion wasn't needed a few years ago, but with so much growth, local merchants said they're losing parking spaces, and business, thanks to people who park over the two-hour limit.

Parking is becoming a growing problem for Brady District merchants.

Since there are no meters, drivers who work nearby often will ignore the two-hour parking limit and park for free all day, according Bob Fleichman, President of the Brady Arts District Business Association.

"What has kept a lot of the downtown development from happening is the availability of daytime parking down here," he said.

Fleichman said the long-term parkers make it hard for short-term shoppers to find a spot; city leaders like Director of Asset Management, Mark Hogan, are hoping to change that.

"What we've had over the years is the people who work in offices that are parking on the street that are taking up that parking because, either we weren't following up on the parking, we had inadequate enforcement and these are the things we're fixing," he said. “On-street parking was designed to serve local merchants."

He said the original idea for short-term parking was to give people who are popping in and out to shop, eat or handle other business a close place to park for free, but if the new meters are approved there will be no more freebies.

Tulsan Cedrick Mitchell said, for the sake of people living downtown, he'd rather things stay the same.

3/17/2015 Related Story: Lack Of Downtown Parking Creates Financial Headache For Residents

“That's more money they have to pay on rent that they are paying to live here and I don't think that's a good thing,' he said.

Parking will still be free on weekends and after 5 p.m.

In addition to the parking meters in the Brady District, the city council is also discussing making all parking meters the same rate.