YOUNGSTOWN — The situation with parking in downtown Youngstown is as one city official describes it: “a little bit of a free-for-all.”

That’s because the city ended its contract with ABM Parking and removed all of its meters in June with an eventual plan — which still hasn’t materialized — to convert parking spots into pay by phone or at a kiosk.

Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works, who gave the description Wednesday to the city council parking committee, said: “We got rid of the meters. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we plan to have free parking. We’re going to need an enforcement mechanism.”

But one doesn’t seem to be imminent.

Shasho discussed proposals for pay by phone or at a kiosk, which is used at privately-owned parking lots in parts of downtown. But he couldn’t say when that would occur and if it would cost the city money.

The city discontinued its agreement with ABM last year primarily because of downtown construction, and it was costing about $10,000 a month for enforcement and only about $2,000 in tickets were issued, said Finance Director Kyle Miasek.

Another problem is downtown workers park in spots all day, taking up spaces that should be used by those visiting the area, Shasho said.

“People don’t know where off-street parking lots are,” Shasho said. “Nobody knows where they can park.”

One issue discussed Wednesday was people parking their vehicles in front of and near businesses and the danger it poses. Employees for contractors doing work downtown are parking on the plaza — which is the sidewalk — as are plenty of other people, city officials said.

Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, and a retired Youngstown police officer, said enforcement of that problem “has become totally lax. You see a car on the plaza, give them a warning or a ticket. It shouldn’t be permitted. It’s a sidewalk.”

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, who represents downtown, said he’s heard from business owners who want 15-minute free parking in front of their storefronts for customers. Oliver said that wasn’t going to happen as it’s just not possible.

Also discussed Wednesday was a city-owned lot behind the former Realty Tower at East Federal and South Champion streets that the city let the building’s owner use. But with the building demolished after a May 28 explosion, council members wanted to reclaim the lot and let the city again use it. No decision was made on that.

In an effort to get more people downtown, the city made on-street parking free after the meters were removed in June and a month later made the city-owned, 114-space ≠≠parking lot on Commerce and Phelps streets, behind 20 Federal Place, a place to park for free. That was supposed to last six months, but there isn’t an end date at this point.

Oliver said there aren’t a lot of people who use the free spaces at that parking lot.

But because of that parking lot, there are several more free spaces for those coming downtown now than there was before a major downtown street improvement project began eight years ago.

Miasek said the city and other entities — he mentioned the Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber, the Western Reserve Port Authority and Youngstown State University — have met to consider a parking deck at that location.

A February 2023 study recommended a 419-spot parking deck at that location. While Miasek said the project’s cost would “be quite large” and “we need commitments” from downtown businesses before it moved forward, the 2-year-old study put the cost at nearly $15 million — which likely would be more expensive now.

With the potential redevelopment in the fall of 20 Federal Place, a city-owned building, a parking deck would have to wait because of construction work.

The council parking committee meeting itself was a rarity. The committee last met in 2019 to discuss taking legislative action to put tire boots and / or windshield barnacles on vehicles of the worst repeat parking ticket offenders. That proposal went nowhere.