Eliminating free parking in the southern peninsula.
That’s the goal for Common Council after a request from the Saint John Parking Commission to implement the same two-hour parking rule that is in place in other parts of the city.
Common Council voted unanimously in favour of drafting an amendment.
Deputy Mayor Shirley MacAlary says the extra revenue from parking would be good, but we also need to encourage people to use the uptown area more.
She says there’s a lot of issues with businesses uptown not getting the kind of traffic they’d like and says there’s also a lot of young people uptown who can’t always pay to park
Councillor Gerry Lowe says the amendment would help residents who sometimes can’t even find parking in front of their own homes.
Lowe says these cars are all there by 730 am and assumes that not many of those vehicles are shopping uptown.
Councillor Greg Norton thinks Uptown Saint John should be consulted during the drafting process.
Norton says he doesn’t want this amendment to become another reason for people not to visit uptown Saint John.
If approved, residents would be issued parking passes.
