Downtown Parking | Video

Van Tieu | 1/28/2013

Like many who work in downtown Bismarck, Daisy Denham is interrupted from her duties every 90 minutes to re-park her car. It has long been a practice that downtown employees have put up with. This winter, they`re dealing with a new re-parking ordinance instated last April and wait lists for monthly passes at all parking ramps.

Denham and her co-coworkers agree that it has become more frustrating, and in the thick of winter, more unbearable.

"I think it`s made it more difficult because there are times when one side of the block is completely free but if I park there in the last four hours, I can`t re park. I have to park somewhere else. I have to park 3-4 blocks away," she said.

"You end up parking 3-4-5 blocks away and in the winter time, when it`s 20 below, it`s really cold!" said Dorinda Anderson.

The re-parking ordinance was enacted to create parking turnover as the downtown district revitalizes itself with new shops and restaurants, according to the Downtowners Association.

"I think the no re-parking ordinance is kind of a necessary evil. Since parking meters are illegal you have to find a way to make cars turn over, and make sure that there are spaces for customers to use," said Downtowners Assistant Director Kate Herzog.

So, for downtown workers like Denham and Anderson who want to avoid walking far away in the winter and avoid interruptions at work, the parking alternatives are slim. Lists of up to 95 people are waiting to get their hands on a monthly pass.

The Parking Authority says they`ll continue to monitor the occupancy of the ramps in order to sell more passes.

"When the streets are full and the ramps are full, that`s a good problem for the downtown to have. That means people are coming downtown, they`re working downtown," Herzog said. "We`ve grown really fast in a short amount of time and so we need to look at parking from all angles."

Both the Parking Authority and Downtowners Association agree the quickest fix would to erect a new ramp planned on 6th and Thayer, which has yet to go through the bidding process by the city commission. In the meantime, downtown workers continue to take a break at 90 minute intervals to move their cars.

Daily parking at the ramps are still available for a dollar an hour, or six dollars a day. Park Smart coupons are also available at downtown businesses for half the price of normal parking.

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