Traffic News
Fort Worth patches West 7th District's parking problem with 2 free hours
In an effort to improve its plagued parking situation, Fort Worth's West 7th District will now give away two hours of free parking before 5 pm.
According to a release from the city of Fort Worth, this amendment addresses concerns from business owners who maintain that the on-street metered parking that was installed in 2018 has contributed to a decline in business. Ya think?
The new rate allows two hours of free parking daily between 10 am-5 pm, within a three-hour tiered rate structure:
- A $3 rate will be charged for the third hour if a patron stays beyond the allotted two free hours.
- A rate of $3 per hour is also in effect between 5-10 pm, with no free parking.
That is totally not confusing. This change is also designed to discourage long-term parking, including on-street parking by employees.
The City Council approved the new rate on December 10, with the theoretical start date being December 13. However, due to technicalities and because seemingly everything to do with parking at West 7th is problematic, the free parking had to be delayed.
According to state code, any city ordinance involving fees or penalties must be published for two days in a newspaper before it can begin.
The city did post a report on its website on December 13, but drivers were encouraged to feed their meters rather than risk a ticket.
A city spokesman told CBS DFW that the new ordinance also ran in the Fort Worth Star Telegram on December 11 and 12. But then they made changes to the ordinance, so they had to start over and run it again on Friday and Saturday.
Maybe that second time, rather than running it in a newspaper, they could have run it on a dynamic on-line news site instead? Just a thought.