Early yesterday afternoon, we reported that the City of Annapolis had modified the traditional free 2-hour parking for the holidays policy. The revision was to reduce it to a Thursday through Sunday program, and to shorten it up by a week only allowing the free parking between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The other tweak was that the meters woudl not be bagged and that to get free parking, drivers needed to utilize the Parkmobile app and a discount code.
This was based on a newsletter sent out by the Downtown Annapolis Partnership (the entity that represents businesses downtown) yesterday and an email outlining the new policy dated October 1, 2019 from Stephen Rice who is Mayor Buckley’s Economic Development Manager. This email was copied to the Transportation Director, the City Manager, as well as the Small and Minority Business Coordinator for the City.
After a meeting yesterday afternoon, the City is changing course and according to Mitchelle Stephenson, Spokesperson for the City, the revised program will include:
- Free parking will now be offered from Thanksgiving through New Years
- Free parking will now be offered 7 days a week
- Free parking will still need to be redeemed via the Parkmobile app along with a discount code
According to Stephenson, an official release will be coming from the City confirming this shortly.
