Dueling Proposals for Downtown Parking: Councilmember Laura Morrison
Austin City Council will debate two proposals over extended paid-parking downtown: one by Mike Martinez and another by Laura Morrison. Photo by Jesse Wang for KUT News. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
In March, the Austin City Council approved a measure to keep downtown parking meters in effect until midnight. Now, dueling proposals on next week’s city council agenda could change the plan.
KUT’s Matt Largey spoke with Councilmember Laura Morrison about her proposal to postpone the implementation of the extended parking ordinance until January. (You can listen to Largey’s conversation with Councilmember Mike Martinez about his proposal by following this link.)
“I am concerned that we have not done adequate outreach and engagement with the community,” Morrison told KUT. “There was a survey that the join subcommittee of Urban Transportation and Downtown did and . . . over 85 percent of the respondents were against [the ordinance]. You run into those folks, and they are surprised that the city moved forward with it. I think we need to do better on that.”
Some downtown businesses are looking for increased turnover in parking in front of their locations, and extended parking hours would help them, according to Morrison. “But having to pay for parking meters everywhere . . . went way over the original goal.”
To listen to the full conversation between Largey and Morrison, click on the audio player above.
Podcast: Download (5.4MB)
