Corbett wants free parking for a decade to revitalize downtown

Mayor Ron Corbett said Monday afternoon that he will ask the federal and state governments to provide funding so the city can offer free parking in its flood-rattled downtown for a decade.

Parking comes up in meeting after meeting, the mayor said, as he hears from investors contemplating building in downtown and employers talking about coming to or staying downtown.

More needs to be done for downtown parking, he said, than cutting monthly rates in parking ramps, which the City Council has done.

“Everyone understands the value of free parking,” Corbett said. “Look at the Monopoly board. Right there on the corner, ‘Free Parking.' Even the game of Monopoly understands how important free parking is.”

He agreed there would be hurdles to jump to bring about free parking downtown, number one of which would be figuring out how to invest in the parking system without the system taking in revenue, he said.

“The city can't do it by itself,” Corbett said. “Remember this is the fourth or fifth largest disaster (in terms of damage to public property) in the history of this country. And our downtown was devastated along with some of our neighborhoods.

“This isn't just business as usual in our recovery effort. We have to do something that's out of the ordinary. Ten years of free parking would be out of the ordinary. And it certainly sends a message that we're trying to revitalize the downtown and rebuild it over a 10-year period.”