Berkowitz quashes plan to charge for metered parking in downtown Anchorage on Saturdays

Free metered parking on Saturdays in downtown Anchorage was set to end next week, but the city's parking authority halted the change Thursday after Mayor Ethan Berkowitz protested.

Downtown parking rates have been slated to increase July 1 for the first time in eight years. The Anchorage Community Development Authority, which manages downtown parking meters and garages and says it's facing rising maintenance costs, has spent the past year studying the rates and unveiled a slate of changes this week.

That included, for the first time, parking fees at meters on Saturdays. ACDA officials said the change was aimed at discouraging downtown workers from parking on the street, instead opening those spaces up to shoppers.

But in a one-page Thursday letter to Dick Stallone, the chair of the ACDA's operations committee, Berkowitz wrote he was concerned that charging for Saturday parking would have "unintended, negative economic impacts."

He asked the ACDA to study the matter further and consider other options.

"By pausing to study and document parking patterns and trends in downtown Anchorage, we can give the community confidence that policy decisions match the community's long-term goals and vision," Berkowitz wrote.

Berkowitz was traveling for a family vacation on Thursday, but his chief of staff, Susanne Fleek-Green, said in a phone interview that the mayor was concerned charging for parking on Saturdays would detract from his administration's broader efforts to bring more people downtown.

She said the administration wants to see more evidence metered parking on Saturdays would change behavior and help open up street parking for shoppers.

"We don't want to discourage people from coming downtown and shopping on the weekends," Fleek-Green said.

Brian Borguno, who directs the ACDA's parking program, EasyPark, said in a Thursday email, ACDA's board unanimously approved the Saturday rate change after a year of analysis and months of feedback from downtown business owners.

But he said EasyPark will respect the mayor's request and hold off on enforcing metered parking on Saturdays, at least for now.

Other parking rate increases will still take effect July 1. The cost of a meter with a two- or four-hour limit will rise from $1.25 an hour to $1.75 an hour. A 10-hour meter will increase from 75 cents an hour to $1.25 an hour. Rates are also rising slightly for garages and surface lots.

The ACDA is expanding a "first-hour-free" program to its parking garage at Fifth Avenue and B Street. The agency also, starting the month of July, plans to offer discounted rates for Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall employees who work part-time or at lower pay scales.

Anchorage Assemblyman Bill Evans, who serves as an ex officio member on the ACDA board, said Saturday that meter changes was part of a strategy to drive more parking customers to the city's underused parking garages.

If the change doesn't happen, "it doesn't end their plans, but it does make it more difficult," Evans said.

Borguno said the board will revisit the issue at a committee meeting next week, and at a meeting with the full board later in July.

He said EasyPark will "still strongly encourage" people to pay meters on Saturdays in the meantime, even if there's no enforcement.

See the full list of rate increases here.