Recently, one of the last remaining privately held parking lots in downtown Portland (Widgery Wharf) was deeded to Unified Public Parking, whose usury parking rates may be the most destructive effect on Portland’s downtown since The Great Fire of 1866.

UPP now has a stranglehold on downtown parking, sometimes charging $17-plus per hour. I’ve been told they are eliminating all over-night parking. Most tourists are visiting for only a short time but many of us live here and work here. We depend on affordable parking.

Many business owners pay their employees parking fees here. Between my two shops, I have over a dozen retail shop workers and I spend over $1,000 a month for their parking. This is an expense that is truly too much for them, and difficult for me, to bear. My customers are, in a large part, local Mainers who make an effort to shop here but parking is a huge issue. If UPP continues its stranglehold on parking neither employee nor customers will be able to afford to continue to work or shop here.

Possibly, the future of downtown Portland is simply tourists, T-shirts and lobster rolls, however this isn’t much of a future. In the winter months all of these things fade in their importance to Portland. Eventually the vibrant downtown business district, that struggles on a daily basis, will also be gone. When will the Portland leadership, both the city of Portland or the Portland Downtown District, address this critical issue?”

Jacques deVillier
Portland

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