Lafayette’s Downtown Development Authority is pushing for the creation of a new parking committee and benefits district after backlash halted Lafayette Consolidated Government’s planned changes to parking meter hours and rates downtown.
LCG announced plans to raise parking meter fees downtown from 50 cents per hour to $1 an hour and increase enforcement to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, a move that Mayor-President Josh Guillory quickly walked back after intense backlash to the changes when they were announced in mid-January.
For now, the 50 cents an hour rate and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. enforcement on Monday through Friday will remain in place, Guillory said at a January council meeting, until a more collaborative decision is made.
During a stakeholder forum organized by the DDA Wednesday, CEO Anita Begnaud said backlash over the changes has centered around complaints that they were made without input from people who live, work or own businesses downtown and that the changes were most frequently criticized as not making “any sense.”
