Strategic Parking Plan

On street parking (free with two hour limit),
New Bohemia, October 2025

(4/29/2026) The City of Cedar Rapids is taking a realistic approach to parking issues in the "Core Four" neighborhoods (Downtown, Czech Village, New Bohemia, and Kingston). Business owners and customers have complained about the difficulty in finding parking; parking finances are not self-sustaining but have required annual subsidies from general funds; and new residential and hotel construction promise to put new pressure on available parking spaces.

Convenience survey results: Parking is hard

Those spaces, for the record, number 7230 in this area: 2010 on streets and 5220 off street (surface parking lots and parking garages), not including privately owned parking lots. 

Public attends a Strategic Plan Open House,
Cedar Rapids Public Library, 28 April 2026

The city and its consultants are to be commended for not trying to solve problems by increasing parking capacity in this area. Space devoted to cars--180 square feet per car, unless you want to go bigger for today's gigantic vehicles--is space that can't be devoted to places to live or visit. They create additional distance between those places, making walking more burdensome, and by not being of themselves financially productive, waste valuable space in the city. These costs and tradeoffs are not widely appreciated by the public, in my experience: "I don't like paying for parking" was overheard at Tuesday's open house.

Parking capacity and vibe are mortal enemies

The Strategic Parking Plan's Presentation of recommendations states four main goals:

• Enhance Economic Development: By optimizing parking and mobility, we aim to support local businesses and attract new investments. 

• Improve Customer Experience: We are committed to making parking and mobility more convenient and user-friendly for everyone.

• Provide Cost-Effective Solutions: Providing public parking in a manner that is both financially sustainable and efficient.

• Expand Mobility Options: Leveraging existing assets to offer diverse and accessible mobility choices.

Open house poster on using data to inform policy

Connected to these are numerous recommendations and timetables, which I've distilled to five, because you are a busy person and any list longer than five makes my head hurt.

1. improve customer experience (ease of payment, finding parking lots) (pp. 11-13, 29-30)
2. ParkCR management of Czech Village parking lots (they currently manage only the big one on 17th Ave SW) (p. 15)
3. create open parking spaces through two hour limits, more enforcement and raising rates at high-demand places (pp. 19-22, 25-27, 31-33)--straight out of the Donald Shoup playbook!
4. Create Resident Parking Permit program (p. 23), so people who live in the district won't have to compete for space with visitors
5. financing and maintenance e.g. parking fees are not self-sustaining, the Five Seasons Ramp (400 1st Ave NE) needs maintenance stat (pp. 36-40)

Cyclists roll by Five Seasons Parking Ramp,
Downtown, May 2025

The plan also recommends further exploration of (1) a Core Four Shuttle for "park once" environment (p. 16); and (2) building a 2. parking ramp in New Bohemia (p. 17)

If the plan works, there will always be spaces available for anyone who arrives in the area to shop or make deliveries, though shoppers may have to pay for the privilege. This may make shopping in the core a more pleasant experience, though that might not overcome the resentment about paying. Shoup recommends devoting the revenue from parking fees to district improvements, which may tend to reduce the intensity of opposition, but that can only happen if there's revenue left over after we pay staff and perform regular maintenance of the facilities.

Increasing enforcement, raising fines
(which were $3 when I first moved to Cedar Rapids)

This difficulty remains, however: People are in the core of the city either because they already live there, or because they have chosen to travel by car, bicycle, walking, or bus.

Bicycle parking at the downtown farmers' market,
Greene Square, June 2025

More construction of apartments and condos may produce more in the first class, but because of the large doughnut of emptiness that surrounds the core, there aren't enough people close enough to rely on cyclists or pedestrians. The bus is not frequent or convenient enough to bring many people, either. Core district businesses rely on people arriving by car. Until and unless the city addresses this--maybe by using parking revenue to improve bus service and cycle paths?--parking in the core will be unsolvable, even by the greatest minds. 

SEE ALSO:

"Book Review: Paved Paradise," 20 June 2023

"I Wish This Parking Was...," 27 November 2020

Donald Shoup, The High Cost of Free Parking (Planners Press, 2005)

Brian Tabick, "Cedar Rapids Considers Changes to Parking in Four Core Neighborhoods," KCRG-TV, 28 April 2026