Rockford Needs More Public Parking — and Everyone Knows It

Don't get me wrong, I love living downtown.  If there's one thing that drives me crazy, though?  It's the lack of public parking.

Rockford's downtown is full of great local businesses, bars, restaurants, murals, and deserve all the foot traffic in the world.  The problem is the parking.  Half the time, people can't find free parking, or if they find a spot it's 2-hour parking.  And we all know they ticket our vehicles so fast if we're over the 2-hour limit.

Rockford Needs More Public Parking — and Everyone Knows It

When you live downtown, you get used to circling the same blocks a few times, hoping someone will pull out from their spot.  Yeah, I've lost my patience plenty of times, but that's how it is sometimes down here!  When City Market is open, BMO has shows, or the Coronado has concerts, good luck on finding parking.  You'll see cars lined up along every curb, side street, and sometimes places you don't even know if it's legal.

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Downtown has grown so much over the last six years and I love seeing the growth!  It just feels like parking hasn't expanded the way we'd hoped.  People want to support local businesses, grab dinner, and walk around downtown without being on a time crunch.  If we could just have free parking instead of 2-hour spots, that'd change everything, in my opinion.  Or more parking stalls!

Honestly, parking shouldn't be a reason people skip out on enjoying what Rockford has to offer.  We have a downtown that's worthy of showing off but need somewhere to park so we can actually explore it!