2 weeks ago Share In addition to passing on options for teaming up with a private parking operator, the commission extended provisions allowing for expanded outdoor dining. Paid parking has a rocky history in the city of Sarasota. In the early 2010s, an effort to install parking meters was met with vocal opposition from downtown merchants, who successfully lobbied officials to rip out the meters shortly after they were installed. In subsequent years, as the city expanded its parking infrastructure, the parking department began to draw increasingly large subsidies from the general fund. Parking Manager Mark Lyons began to once again recommend the establishment of a paid parking program, in part to generate revenue to offset the expenses the city faced. Despite some initial reluctance, in 2018 and 2019, the City Commission again approved parking meters downtown and on St. Armands Circle.