ACHD
Visit To Downtown Boise Can Have Hidden Costs
May 28, 2013 
The GUARDIAN would never put forth a conspiracy theory about charging for on street parking to garner support for a trolley or to force motorists to use parking garages, especially when the parking people at City Hall say the intent is to merely create “turnover” between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Its all part of a new idea being studied to enforce parking meters in the downtown area until 8 p.m. If you can’t figure out the little boxes at the private lots or you don’t have the proper “advance payment” cash, you you can figure on a private “ticket” or in extreme cases, the dreaded wheel boot.
To make evening payments easier, the city is planning to purchase 200 credit card or cash meters a year for $800 each. We are waiting for someone to challenge the parking enforcement on 8th Street between Bannock and Main. That is a stretch officially “vacated” by the Ada County Highway District, owned by the CCDC (Capital City Development Corp.) which is not part of Boise City. The City tries to bluff motorists, claiming the private street parking is enforced under a contract. We doubt a judge would find anyone in violation of a parking ordinance on private property.
We contend it is improper to enforce private parking under a city parking ordinance. Anyone up for a legal challenge?
Of course, if you just want to have a relaxing meal, not worry about parking tickets and a high concentration of booze joints you can always try the places on Vista, Overland, Orchard, State, and Fairview. They have free parking.
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Comments & Discussion
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May 28, 2013, 12:03 pm
Contact Wayne Hoffman. What you propose sounds like it is right up his alley for raging against the machine.
May 28, 2013, 12:54 pm
The Idaho Supreme Court opinion in Black v. Young is one of the very best to use to define the power of a city, which quite simply is that if something is not authorized by state law, then a city cannot do it via ordinance. Frankly, I’ve long felt that the Legislature should revamp the entire municipal code, because cities continue to abuse and grow their powers.
May 28, 2013, 1:20 pm
Maybe that is why Parking is not enforced at all on 8th Street. The bike lane is hardly usable. Cops even park in it.
https://www.facebook.com/BikeLaneJerks
May 28, 2013, 7:56 pm
Or ride your bike into town.
Choice of parking in one of the ridiculous city provided bike racks or just tie up on a tree or meter pole next to your destination.
May 28, 2013, 7:56 pm
And if you leave time/money on the meter, it knows when you drive away and erases it, so nobody can use your abandoned time and the city gets paid twice.
May 28, 2013, 9:19 pm
Some things just make my head hurt, and the struggle to figure out ordinances such as this is one of them. Thurber’s famous little girl who said that the book she read told her “more about penguins that she wanted to know” is sort of the opposite of trying to make sense of reading such convoluted prose as this/these. Whatever happened to the movement to write law in “plain English”?
May 28, 2013, 9:39 pm
This is a great opportunity for other parts of Boise to promote business services and restaurants. I avoid downtown unless I’m on my bike. Let the downtown business know you are going to move on to greener pastures if the city adopts this new parking idea.
May 29, 2013, 10:30 am
Well, it could be worse. Had lunch in San Francisco a week ago Monday. Four hours on-street metered parking in the financial district – $18.25. Enforced 24/7.
EDITOR NOTE–FYI, the meter in the photo is in S.F.
May 29, 2013, 1:29 pm
As quoted in the Statesman article, the city spokesman claimed that these proposed parking fee enforcement times are designed to benefit downtown businesses. A simple solution is to poll all the downtown businesses which stay open after 6pm and see if they support extending the parking fee hours or not. This would not require a “study,” two hours of phone calls would complete all the research needed. I would venture to speculate that most businesses would not support it. But I doubt that will change the city’s effort for whatever it is they are attempting to accomplish.
May 29, 2013, 3:28 pm
Primarily why I rarely venture downtown for anything. If necessary I will park several blocks away and walk just to avoid paying for parking.
May 29, 2013, 3:43 pm
Dear Mr Muck. We don’t live in San Francisco. Therefore, we should not adopt their thieving ways.
May 30, 2013, 12:25 am
Dear Mr. Mayor, The food & beer, shopping, banking, and professional services are just as good or better where the parking is free.
May 30, 2013, 9:41 am
Perhaps the Mayor wants to emulate the draconian parking fees of other big cities with the new and improved parking fees.
I find the parking fees off-putting when it comes to downtown Boise. There are just too many other places I can patronize and they have free parking. Parking tickets and lack of parking are two of the things that got malls started. Free parking and proximity to merchants are what drive my decisions when looking for merchants who have the goods and services I need.