You Said It: What Should Plymouth Do About Parking Downtown?

For some, parking downtown is a problem. A appears to confirm this. The city owns just 40 percent of downtown's spaces, short of the 50 percent recommended by the firm for municipalities to have on hand for public parking.

Of the total parking real estate, downtown employees utilize a chunk of the long-term spaces throughout the day.

The city, however, has options. As officials weigh their next step, we opened the dialogue up to our readers: What should the city do about its downtown parking problem? Has parking deterred you from going downtown?

We received a number of responses both on Facebook and on Plymouth Patch. Here is a sampling of your suggestions. Responses have been edited only for spelling:

"The parking hasn't deterred us from going downtown. I will say that it's not always convenient. There have been times that I've wanted a coffee and because there wasn't any close parking, I said forget it! I think the city needs to add another parking structure. I know it's expensive but in the long run, it would be worth it."

— Lisa Hodges, via Plymouth Patch

"The only other place for a structure would be to maybe add something behind the . I don't mind walking through the lovely surrounding neighborhood for big events. If that turns into meters — forget it. No one wants to have to walk a couple blocks to a restaurant then have to keep an eye on their watch to feed the meter. No one wants to add another 50 cents to their coffee to pay to park either. It almost builds in a time they will leave even if they were having fun, spending money... If I've got to walk back to the car anyways because I didn't expect to stay that long, I'll probably just leave — especially for all of us who bring kids downtown."

— SB, via Plymouth Patch

"What about the property across from the Court House Restaurant could it be purchased for a parking lot? Employees could park there and a trolley bus be hired to drive the employees to work?"

— Sandra Daniels, via Plymouth Patch

"A couple of you mentioned coffee, so on that note, has its own parking lot (corner of Main/Wing)... fresh-roasted too :) As for the parking situation, how about adding a deck to the current one across from the park (that is, if the structure can support it). Otherwise, I agree w/ Lisa about adding a new structure. The south end of Forest has a bunch of building space that's been vacant for a long time (since Georgia's Gift Gallery I believe). The empty space hurts all the merchants in that area. Has the city looked into taking that over?"

— T. Pilarz, via Plymouth Patch

"I am not sure what the best solution would be but do not add metered parking downtown. It is so nice to shop around and not have to worry about running back to the meter and making sure to have change. I have no complaints about the parking in downtown Plymouth. Of course it is going to be crowded when there are festivals but otherwise, I always find parking."

— Debbie, via Plymouth Patch

"I recently was meeting friends at the on a Friday night and there was also a going on. I drove around for almost 20 minutes and could not find a place to park that wasn't going to take 20 minutes to walk to the theater. I finally paid - PAID - $3 to park in the lot, which the Optimists were using as a fundraiser (good for them!) I don't normally have much problem parking, but during even "local" special events it's gotten crazy!"

— vivi, via Plymouth Patch

"Create another parking structure."

— Megan O'Leary, via Facebook

"I agree with another parking structure."

— Duffy Moon, via Facebook

"Add onto the structure or stop allowing new bars and restaurants to open. We are at saturation level on eateries."

— Sean Zayas, via Facebook

"Opinion - Washington, D.C. has a parking problem; Chicago has a parking problem. For me, parking a block or two away is not a parking problem."

— Doughty Cathy, via Facebook