Cedar Rapids council wants to offer parking incentives to startup firms

City Hall is proposing to offer a $20-per-space, monthly parking discount to small, startup entrepreneurial businesses that agree to locate downtown and stay for three years after the incentives end.

The incentive idea comes as the City Council considers handing over the management of its downtown parking system to the Cedar Rapids Downtown District. The council is scheduled to vote on the arrangement at its meeting Tuesday evening.

One of the sticking points in the negotiations between the council and district has been the city's interest in being able to use parking discounts as an incentive to attract and keep businesses downtown. However, iIncentives mean less revenue for the parking system, which needs money for maintenance and technological upgrades.

In fact, the Downtown District has proposed that the city provide $4 million to cover deferred maintenance in the parking system as part of transferring management of the system to the district.

For the proposed entrepreneurial incentives, a firm must be less than seven years old, have at least 10 employees and plans to create jobs.

At a recent City Council Budget Committee meeting, City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said the city also intended to use parking discounts to attract larger employers to the downtown as well.