A City sponsored program to help businesses in the uptown cope with the impact of the pandemic has been extended. The City provided $35,000 to cover one hour of free parking per user per day in the uptown area. Ninety percent of just over 500 people responding to a survey by Uptown Saint John said the one hour of free parking helped in their decision to “visit a restaurant – retail store – or service in Uptown Saint John.”
The program started February 01st and was scheduled to end this month – however – there is just over $9000 left in the budget so Council has accepted a staff recommendation to continue into April until the funds are used. The City partnered with Uptown Saint John – the Business Improvement Association – to run the program through the Hotspot parking app which is also benefiting from new subscriptions to the service.
