El Paso City Council considering free parking downtown on the weekends

Monday through Saturday, it's a quarter for every 20 minutes in downtown El Paso.

However, one city representative says she wants to change that.

Cortney Niland, who represents the west side and downtown of El Paso, brought the up idea of providing free parking downtown, specifically on the weekends, at city-owned parking spots, such as meters and some parking lots, during the City Council's weekly meeting.

It's part of the City Council's initiative to revitalize the downtown area.

The idea is to generate more money for downtown businesses and help folks rediscover the center of the city.

One downtown business worker KFOX 14 talked to agrees.

"I think it's a great idea. We have a big event last weekend and a lot of people coming in. There was parking out back, and there's parking out front," Victoria Hendren said. She works at the Percolator.

"I think people would be more inclined to come here, because they're like, 'Oh, I don't have any change,' or they have to go look for change," she added.

Another idea Niland said is on the table is to take away the overnight parking restriction which is currently in place from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.