The City of Tulsa is testing new parking meters in the Brady Arts District, and you’ll have to pay starting Tuesday morning.
There are will be a total of 21 solar-powered, automated pay stations. You’ll have to enter your car’s tag number, but then you can park in any legal space. Brady Arts District Business Association President Bob Fleischman said the goal is to encourage commerce by having available parking.
"When someone wants to come by for lunch, we hope they can find a parking spot and that it's not all taken up by employees," Fleischman said. "So, there will be a balance, and we'll work it through."
Business owners are working with the city to figure out where employees will be able to park on weekdays. Fleischman said the new meters pose a problem to some residents, too.
"Most of them are gone between 8 and 5, because they've gone someplace else to work, but there are some that will work different shifts, so they need to have an option to be able to have their car at least within a block or two of where they live."
The same parking ordinances apply: $1 per hour, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Three vendors are using the trial run to earn the city’s business.
"After the purchase of those meters for this area, we will then move south of the Brady District, going into the rest of the city, replacing the meters as we can and as the city can afford it," said Public Safety and Security Manager Mark Weston.
The new meters take coins, bills or credit cards, and payment at one counts throughout downtown.
