By Goya Dmytryshchak
Free parking days and a mid-week reduction in fees have been suggested as ways of getting Williamstown’s Nelson Place out of a “new low”.
Ticket machine fees for Nelson Place – the only shopping strip in Hobsons Bay with paid parking – have stayed the same for another year under the council’s draft 2015-16 budget.
Controversial plans to raise parking fees by 10 per cent under the previous budget were scrapped after strong opposition from traders, who said the dearest hourly parking rates in the west had turned Nelson Place into a “ghost town”.
Parking in Nelson Place costs $3 an hour or $12 a day for people without resident permits.
Cr Angela Altair told last week’s council meeting that work was being done to help Nelson Place traders.
“In particular, by possibly adjusting the hours and charges mid-week, and also possibly considering having some free days,” she said.
“I was in Richmond on Sunday and I note with interest that the parking meters at Yarra council are … Mondays are free and so are Sundays.”
Cr Altair has previously suggested dropping parking fees in winter months.
Marketing director Sash Boseovski said initiatives such as free parking days were well overdue “as Nelson Place is hitting a new low”.
“Geelong council realised very early that people weren’t going into the city of Geelong, so they made parking free at weekends and promoted it aggressively,” he
said.
“Warrnambool city is starting to resemble a ghost town due to high rents and parking meters.”
Williamstown Chamber of Commerce president Laura Nardo said traders were “in favour of any changes to parking which would see a reduction or the removal of parking meters in Williamstown”.
