Downtown parking debate goes on, shadowed by economy

Downtown parking debate goes on, shadowed by economy

City government wants its parking department to pay for itself. Businesses in downtown Sarasota and St. Armands want convenient parking for their customers, ideally free. Merchants want turnover in street parking spaces to accommodate more customers throughout the day, and underutilized parking decks, which already don’t cover their own costs, are saddled with elevators in need of frequent repairs and expensive replacement.While the city struggl…

Downtown businesses paying for customer parking

Some downtown businesses have noticed a decline in customer traffic since the paid parking took effect on August 1st.