City of Concord to Host Downtown Parking Forum

CONCORD, NH — The city of Concord is hosting a Downtown Concord public parking forum at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016. All are welcome to the event at the City Council Chambers, 37 Green St., second floor, next to the police station. City officials, according to Matt Walsh, the director of redevelopment, downtown services, and special projects, hope to hear recommendations and feedback from everyone about the state of parking in the city.

This is the second forum scheduled requesting input after city officials floated the idea of increasing parking on Main Street from $1 an hour to $1.75 an hour, while side street parking was proposed to increase to $1.25. Enforcement hours were also proposed to be changed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, to 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

Parking citations could also be increased at expired meters. A ticket is currently $10 but could be raised to $25.

According to city budget documents, parking operations has been running hundreds of thousands of dollars in deficits for years – with more than $10 million needed to repair the city’s aging garages, new and upgraded kiosks, equipment, and signage.