Concern, confusion as Salem rolls out paid downtown parking - Salem Reporter

New signs in downtown Salem indicating drivers must pay to park for up to 12 hours are causing confusion for visitors, but city officials said street parking is still free until the city’s new parking program goes into effect on July 10.

The new signs were meant to be installed alongside new pay stations that would have provided relevant information to visitors, but those machines were held up at a shipping port because of impacts related to tariffs, City Director of Community Planning and Development Kristin Retherford told Salem Reporter.

As of Thursday, the pay stations are beginning to be installed, she said.

“The machines will have verbiage that they won’t be activated or accepting payments until July 10,” Retherford said. “Unfortunately, because the installation is a contracted service, we didn’t have the flexibility of shuffling install crews and dates around to accommodate the port delay.”

People in Salem have been parking for free downtown for the past 50 years thanks to an annual parking tax levied on businesses to pay for garage and street parking.

Next month, visitors will have to pay $1.50 per hour for up to 12 hours at new parking meters Monday through Saturday.

Short-term parking in city-owned downtown garages will remain free. Those parkades have 2,045 spots.

Once the city has data on how much revenue the new parking system will bring in, it will eventually phase out the annual downtown parking tax paid by downtown businesses.

According to a city staff memo revenue from paid downtown parking will be assessed at the end of the current fiscal year, and then the city will come up with a timeline on when to phase out the tax.

Downtown business owners and Salem residents who spoke to Salem Reporter in recent days expressed feelings ranging from indifference to frustration about the shift.

Sarah Moore, one of the co-owners of the Physical Therapy Project at 156 Front St. N.E., said her biggest issue is the city keeping the downtown parking tax on businesses, even after the parking meters get turned on.

“They are essentially double dipping — charging our customers to park downtown and still charging the business owners,” Moore said. “I am sure they have run the numbers and determined they will make more money by putting in the parking meters so (the city) being unsure if they will have enough revenue is ridiculous. They need to be held accountable.”

Ken Haseltine, the owner of Olson’s Fine Flowers at 499 Court St. N.E., objected to the 12-hour time limit for parking. He said it would make more sense to have 90-minute paid zones instead, and he thinks the rollout of the program is sloppy.

“When the signs went up last week, it was complete chaos. Needless to say. Because people were running in, ‘Where is the pay station!? I don’t know how to pay, or where to pay!,’ instead of covering up the signs which is what they should have done,” Haseltine said. “What does a trash bag cost? To me it was just a ridiculous rollout of this thing.”

Haseltine said the new parking system won’t affect his businesses as much as others because he said about 70% of his business is done over the phone or online. He said he feels bad for restaurants and coffee shops because the pay stations could drive people away given they will have to pay for parking to grab a cup of coffee.

Bee Decker, the owner of the Freckled Bee at 220 Commercial St. N.E., said requiring people to pay for a quick shopping trip is a disservice to her customers.

“I feel like if they were going to do this they should have a few spots on each block that are 30 minutes that aren’t commercial zone, that way if someone is just running in to pick up their order, they can pop in without paying, grab their stuff and go,” Decker said.

Decker said the new pay to park signs are causing her customers confusion and in some cases, costing her business.

“It is frustrating. They put all the signs up, but there’s no machines, but there’s also no sign over the signs saying, ‘Hey, this doesn’t start yet,’” Decker said. “You can sit here all day long and watch people park and they are looking around because there’s no place to pay and they are like, ‘Am I going to get a ticket?’ And I’ve seen people get back in their car and drive away.”

Decker said she leaves her store’s door open so she can yell outside at confused visitors to let them know they can still park out front for free.

Decker also said her part-time employees can’t afford to pay for a parking permit for the parkades, another qualm she has with the new program.

Some Salem residents told Salem Reporter by email they would be less likely to shop downtown or grab coffee once paid parking goes into effect.

“It’s going to affect some at first,” said Larry Lewis, the owner of Scott’s Cycle & Fitness at 147 Commercial St. S.E. “At some point people will get used to it and it will roll back. But I think for about two or three months, people are going to be really intimidated.”

TJ Sullivan, the president of the Salem Main Street Association said the business owners he has spoken to said they wish there was more information provided to them about the parking program. He also suggested some modifications.

“If I was king for a day to make any changes to the program, I would give the first hour free. And then I would give free parking, in the parkades, to all employees downtown,” Sullivan said. Business owners “wish it was a more outward facing campaign. We have tried to raise awareness, I know the city has tried to raise awareness, and I think people know it is coming.”

Sullivan said he wasn’t all that concerned by the 12-hour limit to park on the street downtown.

“If you want to pay 18 bucks to park all day, then go for it,” Sullivan said.

The new parking system will require drivers to put in their licence plate numbers at the new pay stations downtown. The system will keep track of the license plate numbers and parking enforcement officers will be able to check electronically for compliance.

A new app will also be available for people to download making paying for parking more convenient, according to the city’s website.

Retherford also said the 12-hour limit which has some downtown business owners up in arms was selected based on more than a decade of parking studies which showed typical parking spot turnover time is about 90 minutes.

On Monday, city councilors unanimously voted to give downtown employees making $25 an hour or less a discount on parking passes in two of the city’s downtown parkades for a year after the new parking system goes into effect. Councilors also voted to maintain the city’s parking tax on downtown businesses for the next year.

The final parking pass fees for employees include $20 a month at the Chemeketa Parkade and $15 a month at the Marion Parkade.

As the city continues preparing to start its new parking program, city crews are fanning out around downtown providing notices to people who work and live downtown that they should purchase a parking pass in one of the city’s three parking garages.

Part of the city’s rationale behind pushing for people to buy parking permits is to put an end to what city councilors called at a prior council meeting “the three hour dance,” which refers to when downtown employees park in the free three hour zones and simply move their vehicles when their time is up. The phenomenon is widespread across the city’s core.

“We determine if people live/work downtown by patterns and history. Staff note vehicles parked consistently,” Retherford said in an email. “For example, if cars are parked on street five or six days a week at five am, and eight am and again at 6 pm (or whatever frequency staff is noting the vehicle) then we are assuming they are an employee or resident and noticing them of the changing parking requirements.”

Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.

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Joe Siess is a reporter for Salem Reporter. Joe joined Salem Reporter in 2024 and primarily covers city and county government but loves surprises. Joe previously reported for the Redmond Spokesman, the Bulletin in Bend, Klamath Falls Herald and News and the Malheur Enterprise. He was born in Independence, MO, where the Oregon Trail officially starts, and grew up in the Kansas City area.