HikeArizona.COM

Phoenix parks considers parking fees to help budget
Apr. 22, 2010 12:00 AM
.
Visitors to Phoenix mountain parks and preserves may need to bring along more than a little stamina and an appreciation for desert beauty. The city's Parks and Recreation Board is considering implementing entrance and parking fees at the facilities.

The fees could be a proactive measure to help ease budget woes of the past two years. The board is expected to vote later Thursday whether to create a request for proposal to develop a fee program. The 5 p.m. meeting is in the City Council chambers, 200 W. Jefferson St.

One of the options would have patrons buy a user pass online or at a retail store. And don't worry that parking meters will pop up in parks. The city could choose to install a kiosk that would sell time-stamped stickers for visitors to leave inside car windows.

While this is the wrongest of wrongs... it'll likely thin the crowds out for my two favs Squaw and S Mtn. There's plenty of public parking within easy hiking range of both. An entire strip mall of parking at 32nd/Lincoln for Piestewa and countless options for S Mtn.

I say we go to the meeting and all stand up at 5:01pm and yell out meeting adjourned due to budget cuts.

As they kick families out of the parks during the cool desert evenings and possibly start charging... remember janet napolitano spent over a MILLION dollars changing the name of Squaw...

I worry that it will work like the fee demo at Peralta and First Water: broken fee collection equipment, and contractors ticketing cars instead of maintaining the equipment, because fines are more lucrative than fees, and the maintenance is free.

big_load wrote:I worry that it will work like the fee demo at Peralta and First Water: broken fee collection equipment, and contractors ticketing cars instead of maintaining the equipment, because fines are more lucrative than fees, and the maintenance is free.

Exactly.

Another case of our awesome govt bending us all over and...