ST. PETERSBURG — People who park downtown to work, shop or eat soon will be feeding meters for hours longer than they do now in most cases.
The city says it wants to eliminate a confusing array of meter enforcement times and standardize when meters are policed throughout downtown.
But the results mean that visitors who now don't pay after 6 p.m. or on weekends will need to keep plugging in quarters. That will likely mean more money for the city, but officials don't yet have an estimate of increased parking revenue.
City officials want to standardize meter enforcement hours from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. seven days a week. The changes likely will go into effect at the end of the month. Meanwhile, city officials are seeking feedback from downtown business owners.
"We've had people say (the hours are) confusing," said Joe Kubicki, the city's transportation director.
Currently, some meters are policed from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., others until 8 p.m. and a handful demand your spare change through 11 p.m. The hours vary from street to street.
While the measure will reduce enforcement hours on a handful of streets, most of downtown, particularly near the rows of restaurants on Central Avenue, will see dramatically increased enforcement times.
The dinner rush hour crowd, accustomed to parking for free along Central Avenue, will now have to pay to park before ordering that glass of merlot.
The standardization doesn't apply to maximum parking times, which will still vary from one hour, 90 minutes, two hours or three hours depending on where you park.
The change comes after city officials switched many free timed parking zones to meters last year.
There are roughly 1,000 meters downtown.
Elaine Smalling of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership called the change practical in an e-mail to members Friday.
But Mickey Paleologos, owner of Central Cafe and Organics, said the city will likely end up chasing his customers away. The meters in front of his restaurant are enforced through 6 p.m. these days.
"It's a bad idea," he said. "The economics are bad enough trying to get the people to come down here, and that's just going to discourage them."
Cristina Silva can be reached at (727) 893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.
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