Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce

The Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce supports the City of Decatur's efforts to alleviate downtown's parking problems.  Since customer access to convenient parking is essential to the survival of downtown businesses, the Chamber favors the City Manager's proposal to enforce time limits and crack down on repeat parking offenders.

However, the Chamber also recognizes that downtown employees need affordable, convenient parking options. Therefore, the Chamber applauds the City's plan to provide trolley service from downtown parking garages and to make monthly parking fees uniform at City garages. The Chamber encourages downtown employers to adopt parking policies that will foster compliance with the City's plan and discourage employees from parking in short-term metered spots intended for customers.

The Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce represents over 30,000 area employees of member businesses. The Chamber's Small Business Council recently added a downtown subcommittee that has assumed some of the duties of the former City Centre. The Small Business Council, with the approval of the Chamber's Board, recently proposed two modifications to the City Manager's parking plan:

1.      Extend the hours for meter patrols until 4:30 p.m.

2.      Increase signage to inform motorists of enforcement hours.

 Chamber President Randy Prince states, "The City is doing its part to make the downtown core attractive to customers; business needs to do what it can as well. That is why the Chamber encourages business owners to make it company policy that they and their employees park in the garages or outside of the core so the maximum number of spaces are available for customers."

Click Here to view the City Council's Parking System Changes.