Anger and frustration persist over downtown Fort Myers paid parking

Some say the City of Fort Myers is pocket-pinching over parking, and businesses are upset. You have to pay if you’re stopping to pick up some food.

The meeting started off slowly with a PowerPoint from the Denison Parking Manager. He explained part of the reason for the frustration with the new system is to blame on communication.

He said, “Communication was supposed to come from the city, and that didn’t happen. That person no longer works there.”

But once business owners started to chime in, things began heating up.

Parking in downtown Fort Myers has recently changed. Two-hour zip zones are a thing of the past, and people are not pleased.

City leaders, including Mayor Kevin Anderson, the city manager, and the Denison Parking Manager, whom the city has contracted to lead the parking system, met with business owners to discuss the city’s parking problem.

Their concerns are their employees paying for parking, customers being surprised about the change, and the overall confusion about the new system.

WINK News spoke with two local business owners, Peter Martin and Roger Hutchison, about their concerns.

“Zero information on the people that it most affects: us, the business owners, so to put it bluntly, we’re pissed,” said Martin.

“Well, people don’t want to come. They just don’t want to come because they can’t park or they don’t understand how they can park, plus this is expensive,” said Hutchison.

There is no plan to change parking rates that were recently changed. This is still an adjustment period for many who live and work in the area.