East Lansing Parking Meter Hours Extended

I simply can't remember the last time I used a parking meter at any time past 6 p.m.  Once free after 6 p.m., you now have to pay after dark in East Lansing.

The city's parking meters are working later than ever.  Parking at most meters and in unattended surface parking lots used to be free after 6 p.m.  Since the beginning of the month, they've been enforced until 3 a.m.

City officials said the change, which is expected to generate $75,000 in the first year, will help balance the budget of a system that has struggled to break even.

Budget records show $340,000 of the city's fund balance has been transferred into the parking system over the past two years.

According to Tim Dempsey, who is the East Lansing director of planning, downtown East Lansing and other downtowns are becoming more evening entertainment areas than daytime shopping districts.  Here's the story from the Lansing State Journal.