Why Didn’t We Think of That?
Detroit City Council can take some lessons on ways to bring suburbanites downtown from the city of Milford. Visitors to that village during the holidays will not have to dig for quarters for it’s parking meters.
Village manager Arthur Shufflebarger says they are offering free parking not only to attract customers but also it’s a great way to welcome people to Milford. “Like putting out the Red Carpet.”
Now isn’t that a great idea for Detroit? Instead of writing mass quantities of parking tickets, most of which will never be paid, try throwing a little generosity around. Like Milford, the City could offer free parking on the streets or make the city owned parking structures free during the holidays.
In the operation of my business, I don’t advertise for Wings games because they are coming anyway. However, here in downtown Detroit, that is not always the case and occasional free parking is a creative way to attract visitors.
it was about this time of year when i moved to East English Village a several years ago and i remember how stoked i was to see all the meters on Mack Avenue covered with plastic bags that said “happy holidays from Grosse Pointe”. i thought it was a nice gesture. and, like you’ve stated, it’s not like most of the tickets they write are ever gonna be paid (in Detroit) so it’d be more like a bonus for the city in the cost they save in man hours and paper. haha. but i honestly think it’ll take more than a fifty cent parking waiver to attract someone from, let’s say, St. Clair Shores to shop downtown.
I know that free parking in Ann Arbor was a great draw to that city for me. I love the meter cover idea. I too agree that it will take more than that to convince people to shop in the D. I would love to see the Renaissance Center and New Center one to offer those incentives. I think that will draw more shoppers than merely having the city cover up our meters. I think contained shopping will ease the fears of suburban shoppers.
“contained shopping”…exactly. suburban folk love their malls.