CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the City of Charleston welcomes visitors downtown during the holiday shopping and event season, city officials encourage anyone to use its parking garages.
The city recently announced the completion of upgrades to its four city-owned parking garages and meters in city.
Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin and Director of Parking Terri Allen announced the upgrades include new security cameras, additional lighting, updated paint schemes to more easily find your vehicle, and additional security presence on the evening and weekends.
“We’ve spent close to a quarter of a million dollars doing some pretty significant upgrades. It includes not only painting and lighting but robust security systems,” Goodwin said to 580-WCHS
Goodwin said the parking garages, including Park Place, Summers Street, City Service Center, and City Hall, have always been safe but the city thought it could make them safer. Goodwin said there has rarely been petty theft or crime in the garages.
“But what they’ve needed is more lighting. To put the cameras in and to let people know we are watching and making sure your parking garages are safe,” she said.
In addition to the garage upgrades, all City-owned parking meters have been upgraded to provide more payment options including Google Pay and text-to-pay. This provides more flexibility for those parking throughout to City and ensures a contact-free parking experience, a release said.
“The parking department has been working diligently to provide good customer service and take customer feedback into account when making upgrades. Our data shows that the majority of those parking at meters use an electronic option, and we are glad that ParkMobile has made more of those options available,” Allen said in a release.
The city-owned garages offer free parking weekdays after 5 p.m. and all day Saturdays and Sundays. Charleston City Council also recently approved Citizen Appreciation Parking at all City-owned parking meters November 27, December 4, December 11, December 18, December 25, and January 1.