A recent Brainerd City Council meeting brought up the conversation of bringing parking meters to downtown Brainerd.
According to the Brainerd Dispatch, the Brainerd City Council met recently to talk about how they could bridge the gap between the fiscal needs of the city with parking lease revenue and keeping the flow for downtown business economics.
During that meeting, members of the city council brought up the idea for parking meters
While the majority of council members—including Sue Hilgart, Dave Badeaux, Jan Lambert and Kelly Bevans—expressed a desire to explore parking meters, the mayor balked at the notion of installing them. Menk said he was open to haggling over zoning, special tax assessments, or lease rates and how to enforce them. But he noted downtown Brainerd used to have parking meters, before the Westgate Mall opened in the early ’80s and roughly 40% of downtown businesses died out seemingly overnight.
Mayor Ed Menk pushed back on the notion of parking meters, saying that it would drive business away.