Drivers in Jackson, Miss., will soon have to pay to park downtown again, Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba said during a press conference at City Hall on Monday, April 22. The City has partnered with SP Plus Corporation to remove the old parking non-functional meters and replace them with new touchscreen kiosks that the company was set to begin installing this week.
The initial parking fee will be $1 per hour and can be paid by card or coin, SP Plus Corporation Regional Manager Casey Robinson said during the mayor’s press conference Monday. “Once we gather some data after the initial rollout, we’ll take another look at rates,” he added.
The change comes four years after the City last updated its parking meter system in 2020.
“Users will now have the ability to pay for parking on touch screens or through their cell phones by using text-to-pay or the parking.com app,” an April 22 City of Jackson press release explained. “In addition to educating the public on how to use the kiosks, SP+ will also assist the city with enforcement by providing vehicles with License Plate Recognition technology to maximize parking availability.”
Lumumba said Monday that instituting paid parking downtown will provide revenue that the City can use to upgrade its infrastructure.
“It allows the City which has been revenue starved for many years to capture revenue that we have been sorely missing and needing,” the mayor said. Robinson said he anticipates the City of Jackson will bring in over $2 million annually from the venture.
“We have to be able to recoup the revenue necessary to do all the things that our residents want to see us do,” the mayor continued. “Most things that you don’t see accomplished in a timely manner in the City of Jackson is not because of a lack of political will to do it; it’s because we lack the revenue. Our needs exceed our means.”
The kiosks will replace the approximately 850 existing parking meters downtown, but the mayor said they could eventually expand the kiosks to other areas of the city.
While the company is set to begin installing the new kiosks this week, City of Jackson Deputy Director of Planning and Development Jhai Keeton asked drivers for patience with the switch.
“We know that it’s going to take some adjustments to how we move around and function within our downtown area,” Keeton said. “We ask the public to embrace it and be patient with us during this transition.”
