Going to downtown Grand Rapids is a double-edged sword: there are so many fun and exciting things to do in town, but the downside is that you have to find a spot around the city. For me, I will drive around as many times as it takes to find a parking spot on the street. I do not think I have ever paid to park in a ramp, I’m just too dang cheap.
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It seems the city is more than aware that most people prefer to park on the street rather than pay for the ramp, which is why it has made numerous changes to street parking in recent years.
But its biggest change could come very soon : Grand Rapids Mayor LaGrand has proposed raising street parking from $2 to $6 an hour, a very steep jump.
MobileGR’s Proposed Parking Plan
During the January 14th Mobile GR Commission Meeting, a representative from Flywheel (a firm working with the City to support city planning) presented an idea for how the City could better utilize and profit from parking in Grand Rapids.
What Arielle with Flywheel said, in summary: something needs to change with parking, and she introduced an incentive program that would reward workers who chose to park in garages.
While a number of commissioners disagreed with the policy suggestion, Mayor LaGrand wants to see change, and the changes focus on getting people off the street and into parking garages. Drastically raising prices for street parking would leave more space for “convenience parking”, quick trips, and encourage those staying longer to park in a garage:…