UPDATE 4:29 P.M.:
The City of Fort Myers says the new changes go into effect on Saturday, September 7th.
UPDATE 5:45 P.M.:
On-street parking in downtown Fort Myers is now permanently free after 5 p.m. and on weekends. The decision was unanimously made by the Fort Myers City Council on Tuesday.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A local law firm says parking has been an issue for so many people in downtown Fort Myers.
Your Fort Myers Community Correspondent, Miyoshi Price, listened to people who work downtown and say they have issues keeping their customers because of parking.
Watch to see how downtown workers feel about the parking situation:
"They can have at least free parking for offices like us," said Claudia Belez, the client service supervisor at Demine Immigration Law Firm.
Belez says her business closes at 5:00 p.m., and free on-street parking after 5:00 p.m. does not help her firm.
"It was a better idea when they had it before for two hours in some places," she said.
Some downtown employees told Fox 4 that in the past, there was two-hour free parking in certain downtown spots, which helped them keep customers.
Belez says she experiences frustrated clients daily.
"All the older people that they come to the office, they are telling us that, you know, they have trouble understanding the system," she said/
Denison Parking shared a statement about parking with Miyoshi Price:
As I explained to you on the phone, Denison Parking is responsible for making sure all payment kiosks in the Downtown area are working at all times. Our daily routine includes monitoring those kiosks, ensuring they are online throughout the day, and processing and accepting credit card and coins payments. Part of our enforcement crew's job is to notify our office located on First Street about any issues with the kiosks, and we fix them right away. If a technician has to be called, Denison makes sure a sign gets posted to that machine, redirecting people to another kiosk. We also have several other parking payment options, like cellphone applications, ParkMobile, Honk Mobile, and Passport, to help the public pay for parking without visiting the street kiosks. We, Denison Parking, welcome all visitors, employees, and business owners who have questions and concerns to call us or visit our office located at 2123 First Street if they have questions or concerns. Our job is to ensure the general public knows the Downtown parking rules and how to pay for parking. We are happy to explain how kiosks, apps, or parking garage equipment works to the general public.
Belez explained that the current parking process deters people from coming to her firm.
"We also have another in Lehigh, so they prefer to go over there," she said.
Tuesday night, Fort Myers City Council will vote on whether to make parking after 5:00 p.m. permanently free.
Belez says businesses are suffering during the day.
"I know some of the owners of the restaurants, and they're being, you know, they say that they have less people right now," says Belez.
Belez says Council could help by taking the conversation about free parking a step further. She wants the city to provide daytime free parking options for customers who want to be in and out.
"At least they have some minutes, you know, during which they can drop some documents and go," Belez said.
