{"slug": "parking-at-a-meter-in-downtown-san-jose-better-pay-attention", "title": "Parking at a meter in downtown San Jose? Better pay attention.", "summary": "The San Jose City Council is expected to approve extending parking meter hours in downtown from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and raising rates to $4 per hour for most spaces near garages, generating an estimated $1.2 million in revenue. The changes aim to manage high nighttime demand and align with garage pricing, though critics worry about driving visitors to nearby cities.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...If you’re parking at a meter in downtown San Jose, you’d better pay close attention or it’s gonna cost you.\n\nThe San Jose City Council is poised to approve a resolution Tuesday that would extend the hours of operation for 1,600 meters in the downtown core from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. And most of those — which are within two blocks of a city parking garage or surface lot — will charge $4 an hour instead of the current $2.\n\nIt’s a good thing the “smart” meters were upgraded a few years ago to take credit card and app payments because that would be a lot of quarters to carry around.\n\nThe changes don’t affect meters on East Santa Clara Street east of Fourth Street, those in Japantown or other parts of the city. Sundays and holidays will remain free, too.\n\nA memo to the council from John Ristow, the director of transportation, estimated the changes would generate approximately $1.2 million in revenue. Oh, and that’s not counting a potential $70,000 in citation revenue from drivers who overstay their time.\n\nThe reasoning makes sense, even if it is pretty mercenary. As downtown has rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the activity has taken place at night and finding an unoccupied metered space downtown after 6 p.m. is like finding a unicorn.\n\nThe $4 per hour matches what the city’s garages charge, which also might incentivize people planning for a night out to park at a garage since the first 90 minutes are free. And the Convention Center garage has finally been added to the 90-minutes free list, which opens up another option for people visiting the SoFA district.\n\nThe council memo notes that meters in San Francisco run until 10 p.m. and charge up to $13 an hour and Sacramento meters also run until 10 p.m. and charge up to $6 an hour, while Oakland charges up to $4 an hour — but only until 6 p.m.\n\nThose comparisons are all fine, except visitors to downtown San Jose are probably more likely to go to Campbell, Los Gatos or Palo Alto than any of those cities. We’ll see what, if any, impact it has over the summer.\n\nAnd while you would expect a lot of downtown business owners and maybe even visitors voicing their thoughts on this issue at Tuesday’s meeting, there’s almost no way the council will reject the plan. The extra revenue was already figured into the budget passed this month and if the council says no to the meter changes, they’ll either have to find the $1.2 million in revenue or make cuts to bridge the gap.\n\n**SUMMER SOUNDS:** Sunday isn’t just the first day of summer and Father’s Day. It’s also Make Music Day, a nationwide celebration that encourages people to play an instrument, hum along or just enjoy music made by someone else.\n\nIn San Jose, there’ll be more than 175 free performances at 45 venues around the city, including various library branches as well as History Park, the Circle of Palms downtown, Hobee’s downtown location, PowerHouse (684 S. Second St.), Sonic Runway and the San Jose Museum of Art.\n\nCityDance San Jose will bring the moves to Parque de los Pobladores, buskers will be doing their thing on the Paseo de San Antonio and the Levitt Pavilion series will be filling St. James Park with music. The San Jose Police Emerald Society Pipe and Drum band will be piping and drumming at Willow Glen Town Square on Lincoln Avenue, and a pop-up choir will be roaming VTA light-rail trains and stations throughout the day.\n\nYou can check for times and locations at [www.makemusicday.org/sanjose ](https://makemusicday.org/sanjose/)(and drop the ‘sanjose’ to find out about other cities).\n\n**PARTNERSHIP AGAINST HUNGER:** Two nonprofits — Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen and Hunger at Home — announced a joint venture this week to tackle their shared mission to end hunger.\n\nLoaves & Fishes will receive recovered protein and produce at no cost from Hunger at Home, which will be reimbursed for the cost of recovering and delivering the ingredients. It’s a win-win for the two organizations, with Loaves & Fishes food costs reducing by about 20 percent and Hunger at Home being able to provide an additional 2,000 meals a month to people in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.\n\n“Food recovery is one of the smartest and most effective ways to fight hunger, but it has long been an underfunded part of the food assistance system,” Hunger at Home CEO Ewell Sterner said in a statement. “By combining our strengths, we can rescue more nutritious food, serve more people, and build a stronger, more sustainable food recovery system.”\n\nLoaves & Fishes CEO David Hott agreed, saying the model strengthens both organizations. “The need in our community continues to grow, and collaboration is essential,” Hott said.\n\n**NONPROFIT ON THE MOVE:** Cancer CAREpoint, the nonprofit that provides free support for people affected by cancer, has outgrown its headquarters on Samaritan Drive and next month will move to new digs at the Garden Theater building in Willow Glen.\n\nMore than 12,000 people have been helped since the Cancer CAREpoint Resource Center opened 14 years ago, receiving counseling, support groups, wigs, nutrition classes and even emergency funding. The new space will allow the agency to expand its programs and should provide a lot more visibility in the community, given its location on Lincoln Avenue.\n\nAnd Cancer CAREpoint should just have enough time to get settled before its annual Garden Party fundraiser on Aug. 30 at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga. Strong attendance and lots of donations are the best housewarming presents Executive Director Pam Klaus could hope for. Get more information at [www.cancercarepoint.org/gardenparty](https://www.cancercarepoint.org/gardenparty/).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/parking-at-a-meter-in-downtown-san-jose-better-pay-attention", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/20/downtown-san-jose-parking-meters-make-music-day-pizarro/", "published_at": "2026-06-20 13:30:45+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-20 13:39:06.044286+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["San Jose City Council", "John Ristow", "San Francisco", "Sacramento", "Oakland", "Campbell", "Los Gatos", "Palo Alto"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/parking-at-a-meter-in-downtown-san-jose-better-pay-attention", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/parking-at-a-meter-in-downtown-san-jose-better-pay-attention.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/parking-at-a-meter-in-downtown-san-jose-better-pay-attention.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/parking-at-a-meter-in-downtown-san-jose-better-pay-attention.jsonld"}}