Rocky eyes free parking for 'clean vehicles'

If crude at $64 a barrel, a free pass in the HOV lane or gas costing $2.50 a gallon isn't enough to encourage you to buy a hybrid or natural gas vehicle, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson wants to offer a little more incentive.

Anderson will meet this week with top advisers from various city departments to examine the possibility of offering free parking at city meters for "clean vehicles" like hybrids and natural gas cars.

It's the least the city can do, Anderson said, to encourage people to burn less pollution-loaded gas in their vehicles.

It's another in a long line of initiatives Anderson has taken to encourage "green" practices in Salt Lake City. If Salt Lake City did adopt the measure, it is believed it would become the fifth U.S. city to offer the incentive, following the lead of San Jose, Los Angeles, Albuquerque and New Haven, Conn.

While Anderson has recently sought to adopt some of his initiatives through executive order rather than go through the sometimes laborious process of getting an ordinance passed by the City Council, transportation engineer Kevin Young confirmed that his department has prepared an ordinance that would enact the free parking.

This year, Anderson proposed raising the price of city meters from 75 cents per hour to $1 an hour, in an effort to raise more cash for the city's struggling budget. The City Council agreed to the hike, but some were hesitant.

Anderson's administration is conducting a study examining the cost-benefit of making it free for anyone to park at city meters. The idea is that downtown has to compete with suburban shopping alternatives. Many suburbanites have complained about the high cost of parking downtown and note that it's free to park at suburban shopping centers.