City of El Paso holds public input meeting regarding downtown parking

The City of El Paso’s International Bridges Department held a public input meeting regarding parking in downtown.

The department is working on a study of the city’s parking meters, to help get a clearer picture of how to alleviate parking troubles.

“We need to find a better way to manage that need in parking spaces, working with the parking stakeholders — because metered spaces on the street simply aren’t enough,” the city’s director for international bridges David Coronado said. “We need more spaces.”

About 30 people went to the city’s meeting to voice their concerns and give ideas about how to fix the parking issues.

“We don’t have a big walk-in rate, as compared to other places that might be easier to park at,” Sunset Tattoo Company owner Ralf Jauregui said. “It just gets really congested, especially with all the construction going on. That, plus events, it just makes it catastrophic down here.”

Jauregui attended the meeting because he wanted to voice his opinions. He said he was thankful that the city is reaching out to stakeholders. He himself doesn’t drive to work.

“I live right on the other side of the freeway, I live in Sunset (Heights), so I pretty much just skate down here,” Jauregui said. “It’s pretty easy for me to get down here, but if I do need to bring my vehicle, it’s horrible.”

The city said it will complete the study by March. It’s asking residents to complete this survey, to help get a better grasp of parking issues.