Patrons in the Cotton District must now pay to park.
On March 15, parking spots from Montgomery Street to Mississippi State University’s campus switched from free, two-hour parking to paid parking through the ParkMobile app.
ParkMobile is a parking system generated through a mobile app or text messaging system instead of traditional parking meters. It allows people to choose how long they wish to park and pay accordingly. Each hour of parking costs 75 cents, and customers may park for up to four hours.
The system is in effect from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays. Green signs are posted throughout Midtown and the Cotton District, instructing customers to download the app, scan a QR code or text a phone number to pay for their spot. 
Mayor Lynn Spruill said the previous two-hour parking system in the Cotton District was intended to be a temporary solution. 
“This allows for longer parking periods than two hours,” Spruill said. “This allows for up to four hours, and so we decided that was a better way to use our time and our resources and have an opportunity for that turnover in the District to allow both retail and the restaurants to have people both come and go.”
Agreeing with Spruill, Ward 4 Alderman Mike Brooks said the board ultimately chose to implement paid parking due to concerns from restaurant and retail owners in the Cotton District.
“We felt like, with input from restaurant folks and merchants, that this would position them the best (with) turning this parking over,” Brooks said.
Brooks said the business owners complained that people would park for over two hours in the previous system, which affected the flow of customers in and out of stores and restaurants. Sometimes people would park their cars in the Cotton District all day, blocking additional customers from parking near the businesses.
The Reflector attempted to contact Bin 612 in the Cotton District to comment on the ParkMobile system but was declined an interview. The Reflector also reached out to The Klaasroom and Boardtown Pizza and Pints but did not receive a response by publication time.
The mayor said the city chose the ParkMobile app rather than parking meters because the app is simple to use and does not take up physical space.
“Parking meters are expensive,” Spruill said. “They take up space—they take up sidewalk space—and the ParkMobile app is something that is already in the works with the university, so it’s an easy transition for those who are familiar with it.”
Additionally, Brooks highlighted the app’s simplicity, saying he had no trouble using the app.
“I’m old,” Brooks said with a chuckle, “and I figured it out pretty quickly.”
For those who are not tech-savvy with apps, a phone number is posted on ParkMobile signs and people may text the number to pay for their spot.
However, Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver said not everyone always has a phone with them, so he wished there were more options for those people.
“I guess it’s just assumed nowadays that everyone has a phone on them at all times, but that’s not true,” Carver said.
Carver voiced his disapproval of the new system. He said business owners and customers have already complained about receiving parking tickets.
“I don’t want to see any kind of negative reputation of being anti-business toward patrons,” Carver said. 
Carver said he did not think Starkville needed a paid parking system due to its smaller population.
Brooks said he expected a learning curve as patrons adjust to ParkMobile, as he has heard some complaints, but he said he thinks the kinks will work out in the end.
“Nothing’s set in stone just yet,” Brooks said. “We think it’s going to work; we have a lot of confidence in it, and out of other things we tried, we feel like this is the best option for us.”
A 15-minute grace period is built into the system, allowing patrons or food delivery workers to grab to-go orders without paying to park. Brooks said he pushed for the grace period because he did not want people to pay to park, only to enter a packed restaurant with a long wait.
“I’ve been to some of the restaurants on ball game weekends,” Brooks said, “and some of the folks would come in, and they wouldn’t be able to sit, or there’d be a 45-minute wait, so they’d decide to leave. I wouldn’t want to penalize those guys and make them pay to park and walk up and not be able to go into the restaurant.”
Brooks mentioned a hack Cotton District customers could use to ensure they will have a parking spot. He said using the app, a person can type in the zone they want to park in and reserve the space from their home, rather than driving around trying to find parking.
Currently, downtown Starkville is still implementing two-hour free parking. Spruill said she would like to see the area move to ParkMobile in the next few years. 
According to Spruill, the money the city makes through paid parking will go into the general fund and help support parking enforcement police officers.
“We want this to work for everybody,” Alderman Brooks said. “We didn’t do this to make money off of it.”