Check the City's own parking website, every garage and lot is $3 for the first hour.
http://www.fresno.gov/DiscoverFresno/DowntownMapsandParking/default.htm.
The rates just went up.

It isn't $3 everywhere. I work in downtown, I should know.

while people learn how good they have it?

see the thing is, we can tell ourselves it's a great deal to park, and parking is easy, and people should be willing to walk farther and take the bus more.

but when you have a business downtown, and people tell you that the primary reason they don't come to your place more often is because of the inconvenience and cost of parking, you notice that.

and the city response is - raise the rates to $3 for one hour. brilliant.

I heard there are cards you can purchase for the meters. When you park at a meter you put the card in for the amount of time you want. Go do your business and when you come back if there is still time on the meter you can put your card back in and it will put the left over time back on the card. It's supposed to know if it's the same card so someone can't come and just take your time.

I wish I had it the other day. I parked out in front of city hall and put an hrs. worth of change for a meeting that lasted all of 5 minutes. But did I walk my ass back in and purchase a card...nope.

Pretty cool story here about smart parking meters in San Fran, you'll be able to see which ones are available and pay through your cell phone, and you can even add more money to your meter from your cell phone so you don't run back and put extra change in the meter.

about the parking, but I will say that getting hit for $3 to park for 5 minutes while buying Grizzlies tickets (you know, to like, support the downtown economy) is a little excessive.

Good thing I know about those two hidden green curb spaces now - even if they do have "tow away" signs posted above them, you know, just to confuse the issue.

I'm convinced people here like to bitch for the sake of bitching.

The only thing that irks me is that in front of my office downtown Fresno City is trying to get rid of the 10 hour meters (which I have a permit for) and make them into 2 hours. It makes no sense except that I think they want us to park in the neopolitan ice cream parking structure in front of Saroyan since the permit for that is $20 more than the 10 hour meter one.

having a hard time growing up to the big city standards. Still kind of spoiled forgetting how good they have it here as compared to other places. It sux comparing our city to others, but it's not really comparing the city as much as it is comparing the ground that has been tread by those cities and how they deal with their problems.

Seems that more than likely since those big cities deal with their problem with meters and expenses, that will be how this city deals with the same issue. Less someone with loads of cash wants to buy up land, build a BIG structure, and give away free parking. That is not likely, neither is it likely that the city would do anything remotely close to that.

The thing is how to educate the young city into knowing what it has and how others have it. Feels like most people have gone to LA or SF, and don't blink twice to put change in a meter. When they come home though....wah wah wah...

Diablo

I read the Late Update post, but didn't go so far as to look for or at the study.

Would this include something like parking meters or are they just talking about permits and parking structures? Because, despite the whining, bitching and moaning about the meters downtown, Fresno has a dearth of the things. Try going anywhere in the Bay Area without parking in a metered or permit space.

And I agree Stormwysper. Someone's gonna get season tickets to the philharmonic or take a carload of people to a roller derby match, and they won't pay the extra five or seven bucks to park?

And yet people still complain about parking downtown.