DECATUR'S NEW PARKING FACILITY

Decatur's three level parking garage is the city's latest addition to its central business area off-street parking program. The $1,000,000 401-stall structure is located on the eastern edge of the business district. The garage is intended to provide parking for both shoppers and uptown workers. The first two levels are metered at $.10 per hour, with a three-hour limit, while the top floor is $.05 per hour with a 10-hour limit. Enforcement is handled through routine police department checks. The garage is financed as a part of a $1,400,000 revenue bond issue which pledges all city parking meter revenue to retirement of the issues—the bonds were sold at a 3.54% interest rate. The garage returned an income of $9,550 for the last quarter of 1957, and it is estimated that when the public becomes better acquainted with these facilities the garage will earn gross $1,000 per week. In addition to the garage, Decatur now operates two off-street parking lots: Lot #1, opened in September of 1952 has 106 stalls; Lot #2, opened in July of 1957, as a component part of the revenue bond issue, has 350 spaces. Both lots are metered. Decatur's officials are: Mayor Clarence Sablotny, and Commissioners, Jack Loftus, H. L. Chastain, Forrest Kirby and Roscoe Graves.

Page 137 / Illinois Municipal Review / June 1958