Ithaca businesses owners, shoppers and visitors may lose the first free hour of parking in downtown garages by the end of December.

Mayor Carolyn Peterson has proposed getting rid of the free first hour of parking because she would like to raise $200,000 for the budget from parking fees. The decision of whether to eliminate the free hour would fall to the Board of Public Works, which the mayor chairs.

Peterson said she and Steven Thayer, the city’s controller, have agreed that to balance the budget, the city needs to raise $200,000 in additional parking revenue. The Common Council discussed the proposal last night.

“When the controller and I put the budget together, that additional revenue matched up possibly with the elimination of the one-hour free parking,” Peterson said. “I’m perfectly comfortable looking at other methods, as long as I feel that they’re verifiable and can raise the $200,000.”

The board will be meeting later in November to discuss the issue, and the mayor said she would like the issue resolved by Dec. 31, according to Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance­ — a nonprofit organization charged with the revitalization, development, promotion and management of downtown Ithaca.

The parking garages are located on Cayuga  and Green streets. Every hour after the first costs a dollar, with a maximum payment of $7 a day. Nights after 6 p.m. and weekends are free.  

At a Common Council meeting last Wednesday, the council was presented with a petition signed by 1,845 residents opposing the elimination of the free hour. The petitions were placed in shops and businesses downtown for four days.

Bettsie Park, co-owner of the jewelry and gift store 15 Steps, said the petition immediately started conversations among people in her store.

 “Every single person thought [the elimination of the free hour] was a horrendous idea,” Park said. “People had strong opinions. Especially in a struggling economy where people are already feeling deprived, taking away something people like will have an adverse effect.”

Park said it is important for the Board of Public Works to look at proposals that Ferguson and the DIA have drawn up to help find additional revenue.

“The two groups of people that would notice the elimination of the free hour are local shoppers and student shoppers,” Park said. “It would leave a bad taste.”

Ferguson said one of the proposals the DIA had is to put a sign in front of the Green Street garage that would generate revenue. Ferguson said there is currently no sign and this causes many people to pass by it and look for parking elsewhere.

Ferguson said the downtown business community would like to keep the free first hour of parking because they believe it gives people incentive to shop and spend more time in downtown Ithaca.

Junior Kailey Denzer-Weiler said eliminating the free first hour would discourage students from driving to The Commons.

“Sometimes you need to do that really quick errand or you just need to drop something off, so it’s convenient,” Denzer-Weiler said. “If I just want to run to Collegetown Bagels really quickly, I don’t want to pay a dollar for parking.”

Ferguson said seven of the nine members of Common Council expressed a desire to ask the Board of Public Works to seek an alternative for raising the $200,000 on Oct. 27 at a Common Council meeting.

“There are other ways to raise the money other than simply just eliminating the free hour of parking,” Ferguson said. “So that’s what the discussions are focused on right now.”

Kristin Lewis, owner of Morris’ Men’s and Ladies’ Wear and a part-time worker for the DIA, would like the Common Council to

consider other options for generating revenue because she thinks the elimination of the free first hour sends a negative message to shoppers.

“For me, the free parking is not so much about the dollar,” she said. “It’s about what we’re saying to shoppers. It is a welcoming. It’s a way to say, ‘We’re glad you’re here, the first hour’s on us.’”

Lewis said most of the business community, as well as shoppers, would like to keep the free hour. When Lewis asked businesses to put petitions in their stores so that customers could sign in opposition to the elimination of the free first hour, she said she met no resistance.  

“I had no problem getting anybody to put a petition in his store or business,” she said. “And there were 1,800 plus people who signed the petition.”

Lewis said many people already think it is difficult and expensive to park downtown and taking away the free hour would only increase the negative perception.

“For us to seal the deal by taking away the last free thing we give anybody is pretty discouraging,” Lewis said. “People universally want that free hour.”