Owensboro’s newest parking garage had a few technical glitches since opening to the public, but City officials said most of the issues related to the garage have been remedied over the last several weeks.
The garage, located at 2nd and Locust Streets, earned its Certificate of Occupancy in late October, but there were a few kinks to work out in the aftermath.
“We had a little bit of an issue–somebody, at some point, snatched a receipt and the receipt tore off inside of it and there were some receipts scrolled up inside,” said City of Owensboro Accountant Tim Goff. “We went back to check it, and we found a bunch of curled up receipts inside. We thought we reset it, and they were coming out okay, but then it curled up again, so we check it more often now.”
Goff said a technician showed him how to unclog the receipts inside so that, hopefully, the issue won’t continue in the future.
On separate occasions, several residents complained they weren’t given change after paying to park in the garage.
“It says, ‘Change Shortage.’ If you put a ten-dollar bill in, and you’re supposed to get four dollars back, it tells you it can’t give you change,” Goff said.
There are a couple of lines City officials can customize on the receipts that print out for residents in regard to such issues. If those wishing to park are given the change shortage receipt in the future, Goff said a solution would be to provide those customers with a short description as to where they can pick up their change.
“We might put on there, like, ‘Contact City Hall at 101 E. 4th St. each Monday through Friday for refund,’” Goff said. “That way, if someone gets one of those, they can go to City Hall and get their money back. They won’t get their money then, but they can come back.”
All customers who’ve complained about not receiving change have been refunded for the correct amount they were supposed to have been given, Goff said.
Director of Public Events Tim Ross said he believes the glitches have been fixed in time for popular events.
A low volume of drivers parking in the new parking garage was somewhat of an issue for the International Bar-B-Q Festival, Goff noticed people had a tendency to drive by the garage rather than park inside it.
“We might need a sign that says, ‘Bar-B-Q Fest Parking, first hour for free,’” Goff said. “Because I pulled up in there and two cars followed me in. And after I parked there a little bit, I sat there for about ten minutes and was watching. Nobody else came in there, they just drove by. It’d be good if we had a sign out there.”
Ross said part of the problem with a low parking volume for big events is the amount of street parking available in the surrounding area.
“When you come in from the east side of town, people are parked on the other side of Mudd’s Furniture coming into the Bar-B-Q Fest, which is crazy, because if you get up in the middle of it, you could’ve parked on 4th St. or 5th St. and be so much closer,” Ross said. “But they see cars parked, so they assume there’s nothing closer.”
Ross said the City faced the same issue when the parking garage was a surface lot, especially for those attending events at the Owensboro Convention Center. Instead of parking in the lot across the street, people would search for street parking or park in the grass.
“Naturally, you’re going to park in the street before you go up in the garage,” said City Engineer Kevin Collignon. “You feel like you might get trapped in there, or it takes a long time to get out, or you’ll have to pay to get out.”
Regardless of some technical issues the garage has faced, those in the parking committee believe the new location could become a go-to for downtown parking, especially for bigger events such as Friday After 5 and conventions held across the street.
