One of the recent changes to my downtown was removing the 2 hour free parking. I didn't think that many people were using it or what but that first weekend afte

One of the recent changes to my downtown was removing the 2 hour free parking. I didn't think that many people were using it or what but that first weekend after. I was downtown for lunch and it looked like first covid lockdown. Completely dead. I thought about it as well. There's lots of places outside downtown with nice large parking lots, tons of bike lockup. Why pay $10 to go downtown? What exactly can I get that I cant get elsewhere? Yes, the homeless problem is mostly downtown. That's not a plus. Most the restaurants are ok, not remarkable. The better places tend to be elsewhere. So like, save the $10, get a cocktail somewher eelse. Would more apartments save downtowns when there's no good reasons to be there? No. Could a theoretical benefit of bringing more people in resulting in new better businesses? Possible. I wouldn't do this on some bet that this would save downtown.