Assemblyman wants to keep free parking on weekend mornings in downtown Anchorage

As Anchorage parking officials explore ending free parking downtown on Saturdays, Anchorage Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar wants to bar the city from ever requiring paid metered parking before noon on weekends and holidays.

Through an ordinance being introduced to the Assembly on Tuesday, Dunbar said he's concerned that charging for street parking the morning after a Friday night could lead to more drunken driving.

The director of parking operations for the Anchorage Community Development Authority, Brian Borguno, said he wasn't aware of any data or evidence to support a link between drunken driving and parking meters. He also said Dunbar was "jumping the gun" ahead of a pilot program being designed to study charges for street parking downtown on weekends.

The back-and-forth comes as ACDA officials have hosted meetings with downtown Anchorage business owners who feared that forcing people to pay for Saturday parking would scare off customers.

The end of free Saturday metered parking downtown was part of a package of rate changes unveiled last summer by the ACDA for its parking program, EasyPark. Taken together, the changes — which included higher street meter rates and a "first-hour-free" program at its parking garages — were aimed at tackling rising maintenance costs, investing in new programs and encouraging more turnover in street parking spaces, Borguno said.

The Saturday parking piece of the package stalled, however, when Mayor Ethan Berkowitz objected. Berkowitz wrote a letter saying the effect on downtown business and driver habits should be studied further.

[Prior coverage: Berkowitz quashes plan to charge for metered parking in downtown Anchorage on Saturdays] 

Since then, ACDA has held meetings with businesses and gathered feedback for designing a pilot program, Borguno said.

Borguno said some announcements were slated to come out this month tied to the plans for Saturday parking.

Even though there's no plan yet for proceeding with Saturday parking meters, Dunbar's ordinance restricts ACDA from ever requiring meter payment before noon on weekends and holidays.

"Charging for parking at times it is now free would have a chilling effect that could significantly impact the economy of downtown businesses," Dunbar wrote in a memo accompanying his ordinance.

"In particular, requiring payment for parking on Saturday and Sunday mornings has the potential to increase DUIs the night before by patrons who opt to drive instead of risk a parking ticket if they leave their vehicle overnight on the street."

Borgono said that he hadn't spoken directly to Dunbar about the measure. He said he's worked in parking for 12 years and never seen a study or any data correlating driving under the influence and parking meters.

Thanks to improved technology, drivers can now pay for parking on the street and in surface parking lots through an app and website called Pay-By-Phone, Borguno said. And, he added, cars are already restricted from parking overnight at certain times for street sweeping and snow removal.

The city should be working to expand on-demand transportation options, not restricting the ability of the parking authority to manage its meters, Borguno said. He pointed to ride-booking services like Uber coming to Anchorage as an expansion of options for people to get to and from downtown without a car.  

Borguno said he's been in contact with Uber officials recently about creating taxi stops and  pick-up zones on downtown streets to reduce double-parking.  

In an interview, Dunbar downplayed his ordinance, describing it as a "conversation starter." He said he tried to meet with Borguno and Andrew Halcro, the director of the Anchorage Community Development Authority, to talk it over, but schedules didn't line up.

Dunbar said he planned to talk more directly to Borguno and Halcro. He said he hadn't looked at any data or studies to support a connection between drunken driving and parking meter prices, and agreed that expanding Anchorage's transportation options would help combat driving under the influence.  

"At the same time, a lot of people in Anchorage still use cars," Dunbar said.

Dunbar also said he questioned some of ACDA's reasoning behind ending free Saturday parking, like opening up spaces for downtown workers. Dunbar said there were other ways to manage employee parking behavior that didn't involve pushing a cost onto everyone else in Anchorage.

Borguno said that employees who buy garage parking permits at a discounted rate still park on the streets on the weekends. He said data collected by his agency shows that prime spots downtown are occupied by one car for most of the day on Saturday and Sunday.

Higher turnover in downtown parking spaces has helped local economies in other cities, Borguno said.

At the same time, no one knows for sure what will happen in Anchorage, Borguno said. He said that's why the parking authority plans to propose a pilot program.

"We're all just speculating, including myself," Borguno said. "My speculation is based on other communities that have rolled out these initiatives and seen a positive effect."

The pilot program, which would next come before the board of the Anchorage Community Development Authority, would study the response to Saturday parking, Borguno said. He said the program would accompany other initiatives aimed at easing the burden on drivers.