Popularity comes with a price. Literally.
Starting Thursday, Fort Worth will charge people to park on the streets in its hot West 7th entertainment district in hopes it'll help curb the area's congestion and increase car circulation.
"This issue is such a big problem that we're at the point that we want to do something," said Fort Worth's Parking Manager Peter Elliott.
He said street parking accounts for just 275 of the area's 3,000 parking spots. Yet people circle and circle, looking for spots, and once they find them, they don't leave.
The city believe parking meters will help thin that out.
"We've seen where this has worked in other cities," Elliott said.
Here's how it'll work:
10 a.m.-4 p.m: $1 an hour
4 p.m.-10 p.m: $2.50 an hour
10 p.m.-10 a.m: Free
But there's a catch: if demand for spots is too high, the city can adjust the parking fees 25 cents a week, bringing the costs up to as high as $4.50 an hour.
"So if we see we've hit it or we see demand backing off and there's more spaces available, then we bring it back down," Elliott said.
Perry Tong, who owns Pop's Safari Cigars and Fine Wines on Morton Street, is among those who thinks the meters are a bad idea.
"I've already had probably a dozen customers say they won't be down here anymore," Tong said.
Nearby Farrington Field is also a parking option. The monitored lot, which is owned and leased by the Fort Worth ISD, will typically be available 24/7, but the parking costs are still being hammered out, said Emil Bragdon of the West 7th Restaurant and Bar Association.
Elliott feels hopeful about the changes.
"At the end of the day people are going to love it because it's gonna give them more options and they'll be able to find a space when they want it," Elliott said.