Downtown shoppers have a free pass on city streets for two days after Thanksgiving.
The Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority board voted unanimously Thursday to allow free parking at any metered parking space in downtown Chattanooga next Friday and Saturday. Parking on Thanksgiving Day also will be free.
“They are all turned off,” said Tom Dugan, CARTA’s executive director.
The transportation authority controls about 4,000 parking spaces in Chattanooga, and about half will be affected, he said. The free parking does not include the seven parking lots and garages owned by CARTA, he said.
Historically, the meters are free on holidays, he said, and the reason for having the extra free days is to spur shopping, he said.
The board decided to look at the issue after being approached by River City Co., the downtown development company, and the North Shore Merchant’s Collective, he said.
Turning off the meters shouldn’t have much of an impact on CARTA revenues, Dugan said. It “might have an impact on [CARTA] of about $2,000,” he said.
There is a possibility that next year the garages and lots will be free, too, he said, but the quickness of the proposal caught them off guard this year.
“It came at us so fast, we didn’t have time to think about the impact,” he said.
Kim White, CEO and president of River City Co., said the idea sprang from trying to encourage more people to “shop, dine, play downtown.”
“There’s a perception that it’s just too expensive,” she said, and much of that expense comes from parking, she said.
Those who work downtown on the free-meter days should park in garages to allow shoppers and diners to use the free parking, she said.
Stuart Wood, vice president of the Community Association of Historic St. Elmo, said there are already 10 to 12 free parking spaces in his neighborhood. More economic impact for retailers would be generated if CARTA parking lots also were included in the free days, he said.
The parking lot controlled by CARTA for the Incline Railway is right next to St. Elmo’s shopping area. Wood said CARTA would lose perhaps about $200 if they made that free for a few days.
He said offering that parking lot free would present a “spirit of goodwill.”
“If they are going to do it, they should do it for all areas they control,” he said.
BY THE NUMBERS
4,000: Approximate number of parking spaces controlled by CARTA in Chattanooga
2,000: Approximate number of CARTA parking spaces that will be free
7: Number of parking garages and lots in Chattanooga owned by CARTA
Source: CARTA
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