In the runup to a Downtown Seattle Association-sponsored forum on parking rates (11:45 this morning at City Hall), PubliCola hears the city plans to propose major changes to the new parking rates proposed just two weeks ago, reducing rates in some neighborhoods where meter parking was going to cost as much as $4 an hour. Those new rates (most of them increases) were based on analysis by the Seattle Department of Transportation aimed at reaching an "optimal" parking rate on every metered city block of 78 percent--- a level that leaves one or two spaces free per block.

In that analysis, SDOT measured parking demand throughout the city and determined rates based on how heavily parking was being used at "peak" hours.

However, some council members the DSA, and other business and community groups have expressed skepticism about the department's findings, asking city staffers to do more analysis of the parking stats before raising rates. They're not disputing SDOT's numbers; what they disagree with is the city's interpretation of how those numbers should be used. Focusing on hours of "peak" use, they've pointed out, doesn't take into account that parking is used much less heavily for most of the day.

SDOT is expected to announce the results of that analysis, including changes to parking rates, later this week. City council member Tim Burgess, one of the hosts of today's forum, would only say that he expects to see "some further refinements to the numbers."