Downtown businesses ‘understanding’ of city’s move to reinstate pay parking

Not all downtown businesses are satisfied with the city’s decision to reintroduce pay parking in the downtown core, but they are understanding of why it needs to happen.

At Tuesday’s governance and priorities committee meeting, councillors voted in favour to reintroduce the pay parking measures, effective Monday.

Anthony Graham-Cutts, the owner of Anthonys Fashion on the corner of First Avenue South and 20th Street East, says it would be nice to have free parking to increase foot traffic in the core.

“We understand the need for the revenue for parking. Obviously, as a retailer that’s just reopening, we’re trying to get clients back downtown,” he told 650 CKOM Wednesday.

In a report to the committee, city administration estimated that a loss of around $1.88 million in pay for parking revenues was a result of the ten-week suspension.

The city suspended pay parking on March 20 as a form of relief for Saskatoon citizens through the pandemic.

Graham-Cutts says at this point, everyone seems like they’re just trying to make businesses work through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re not giving anything away for free either, so we completely understand the reasoning behind it,” he said.

Brent Penner, the executive director of DTN YXE says his business improvement district supports the city’s decision.

“We were happy that they decided to move it up a week. It helps get things back to normal, and the turnover of on-street parking is key to the very businesses that exist in the downtown,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone is suggesting that parking downtown was going to be free forever, or free into the future.”

When asked about what the businesses have told him, Penner says he spoke to those in retail, restaurants, legal, medical, and insurance storefronts.

He said he doesn’t think the pay parking change would hurt the businesses.

“This has been the way downtown parking has been since the ‘50s in Saskatoon. Recognizing that COVID has changed many things, at the end of the day what businesses do require is parking turnover,” he said.

DTN YXE is also facilitating cleaning within the downtown core, and Penner says they’ve ramped up efforts.

“Our clean team consists of eight people, six year-round and we’ve augmented that with two summer staff,” he explained.

Penner says his cleaning team is doing extra work, including cleaning railings on benches, city pay stations, as well as door handles on businesses.