Beginning on Saturday, the City of Newark will offer free parking on Saturdays and Sundays in all city-operated municipal lots and metered street spaces.
The program will run every weekend through Sunday, August 10.
Approved unanimously by mayor and council, the program aims to support local businesses during the summer months when the University of Delaware's student population is smaller.
The city, in recent years, has seen more businesses on Main Street that mainly cater to students with rapid turnover of tenants in some cases. High rents are also a factor.
During the year, Newark only offers free meter parking on Sunday mornings. The city still collects revenue during that time, since meters are not covered and visitors may not be aware of the exemption.
Free parking is only offered in municipal lots and on-street parking spaces. Privately owned lots and University of Delaware parking is not included in this offer.
The city has received blowback from an earlier decision to raise parking fines and hourly rates, with at least some merchants seeing a decline in business.
Others have complained about overly aggressive parking enforcement.
Supporters of the changes said the city had not raised its rates and fines in years and that more aggressive enforcement is necessary in a college town with limited parking.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.