Massachusetts Man Won’t Come Back to Portland, Maine Because of Parking Fees

Portland has changed a lot over the past decade and is now known throughout the nation as a place where the food is amazing, the shopping is plentiful and the view of Casco Bay is breathtaking.

The cat's out of the bag now. Everyone knows about Portland and they are showing up in droves. It's good news for Portland's economy but it's bad news for anyone who wants to park their car here.

Just ask a guy from Massachusetts who recently wrote a letter to the editor of the Portland Press Herald complaining about the parking situation in Maine's largest city. Chris Collins of Marion, Massachusettes said he and his wife have visited Portland for years and have noticed the changes and development of the city:

We stopped in at our absolute favorite chowder house on a Friday...but the crowd was lighter than expected. A big reason for that is the absolutely ridiculous parking fees being charged by a third-party parking vendor.  The minimum charge is two hours at $28. It’s killing Portland businesses! It’s taking from waitress tips. And it will drive tourists away. What a sad end to years of great adventures. We won’t be back.

In my opinion, he's not wrong.

The third-party parking vendor he mentions is Unified Parking Partners, which was recently bought by a Philadelphia company.  When they first arrived in Portland, they made deals with parking lot owners to operate their lots and before you knew it, the price of parking went through the roof in Portland.

One of the biggest complaints has been what they call dynamic parking pricing, where the price goes up depending on how busy they are.

Comments on the letter to the editor were mixed, disagreeing with the writer:

We can all agree that cheap parking in front of our favorite chowder house would be just the thing. Otherwise look around a bit, find a less expensive spot some distance from there and walk to Commercial St. Who wouldn't welcome a good walk in an old city dripping with history?

And agreeing:

Just take a look at the piece in the PPH today about the 2.5 million they made off of parking tickets this past year. Ridiculous!

What do you think? Is parking in Portland too expensive or not?