Tyler Howard has been watching her server's paycheck at downtown's Pierro's Italian Bistro dwindle since the city of Fayetteville began charging drivers $10 to park in city lots during Woodpeckers games.

For her and other servers there, that's no small change, especially since some weeks have five or more games.

“As a waitress making $2.15 an hour, there are good days and bad days when you come into work,” she said. “Some days you'll come out with $25 in tips. Some days you come out making more, so we really bank on that money, but then they are charging us $10 to park.”

She is among many downtown workers and business owners who are growing increasingly disgruntled over the new parking fees since at city lots and the Franklin Street parking deck. Private lots have started charging, too.

[FROM THE ARCHIVES: Observer photos not seen since 1973]

Merchants also say the parking fees are also discouraging customers from patronizing downtown businesses during games, which they said is ironic considering that the city invested $40.2 million in the baseball stadium to bolster economic activity downtown.

For now, there are several hundred on-street parking spaces that are still free, but they often fill up fast on game days. And they won't be free for long — the city is putting together a plan to charge hourly fees for streetside parking, which further worries small business owners.

Howard and other employees of the restaurant have been parking in the Franklin Street deck around the corner from the restaurant. It charges 50 cents an hour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Now, two hours before Woodpeckers games start, the city is collecting a $10 parking fee.

Tony Chavonne, the former Fayetteville mayor who previously served as president of the Cool Spring Downtown District, said there is free parking that workers could use, but they may have to walk a few blocks to get there. The Cumberland County Courthouse off Person Street is one example.

“The whole courthouse is open. Nobody charges there,” he said.

Howard and other employees say they don't feel safe walking in the late night hours several blocks to those parking spots.

“There are tons of homeless people out here, just people in general that are kind of shady. I wouldn't do that,” Howard said.

James Jamison, the head chef of the restaurant, said he is concerned about the restaurant keeping its staff.

“Everyone is just in a foul mood,” Jamison said.

[FROM THE ARCHIVES: The Fayetteville Market House]

He said servers are having to shell $10 out of their pocket before they even come into work.

Lena Musselman, a bar manager at Pierro's, said some of the servers are paying $60 a week for work parking. “When we have to pay $10 to park, that is equivalent to over five hours of work,” she said.

Ebony McNeill is the manager at McLaurin Parking, which collects the $10 fee for the city. She said they are trying to accommodate employee parking as best they can.

She said Pierro's employees who get to the Franklin Street deck before 5 p.m. only have to pay the 50 cents an hour fee. The $10 fee starts at 5 when games are at 7.

“Most of the people at Pierro's come to work before 5 o'clock,” she said.

She said Pierro's employees have not been accommodating even though she is trying to work with them.

[FROM THE ARCHIVES: Fayetteville in the 1980s]

“The problem is that employees were just barreling through there (the parking deck entrance). They have to stop and let us know what is going on,” she said. “I've tried to help and adjust as much as I possibly can," McNeill said.

She said there is the potential for an employee parking lot to be created with reduced rates.

“Those adjustments need to be made,” she said. “This is new for the city as well as it's new for them.”

She and city officials have not yet been able to provide figures yet for how much revenue the new $10 fees have generated since the first Woodpeckers home game on April 18.

Mayor Mitch Colvin said he's heard the concerns, and the City Council will be addressing the issue.

“I think it needs to go from maybe $10 to $5,” he said of the parking fee. “If the Woodpeckers had a seven-game stretch at $10 a night, if everybody attended each night like we want them to do, that's $70. That's a lot of money.”

Fayetteville is charging more than Greensboro, where there are several parking lots surround the Grasshoppers stadium that charge between $4 and $6. The Greensboro parking deck is free from 6 to 9 p.m. From 9 p.m. until 3 a.m., there is a flat $2 fee.

Colvin also said the city needs to be able to offer a permit that businesses can issue to employees.

“Maybe the business owner or the employee pays a reduced rate if he is going to be down there after 5 o'clock for work purposes,” Colvin said. “There are a number of strategies we can use. We didn't expect the success that we've had so quickly. It's a good thing. It is a temporary inconvenience, but it's a good thing that we are having this problem.”

Hank Parfitt, the owner of City Center Gallery & Books on Hay Street, did a survey of paid lots and free spaces during a Woodpeckers game on April 30. He found that there were enough unused paid spaces that something could be done to accommodate employee and customer parking.

He said the city can't be making a lot of money on paid lots that are mostly empty, especially considering that the city has to pay McLaurin to hire extra staff to handle all the pay lots.

“This is not working for the merchants and restaurants,” Parfitt said. “Who wants to come down for a $5 latte and pay $10 to park?” he said. “And if you are a regular patron at a restaurant, you may not want to come down to your regular eatery and put up with the parking nuisance. Foot traffic is down for most, though not all, merchants. This is not working for the employees who may have difficulty finding parking for less than $10 a pop.”

Parfitt said he hopes the city is open to suggestions.

“One idea from McLaurin Parking is to set aside a lot or two for employees,” he said. “Also, let’s open up at least two or three pay lots to go back to $1 an hour for our customers and put a two- or three-hour limit on it, as most customers in the evening only need two to three hours.”

Lee Bowers, the owner the Xscape Factor-Escape Rooms in downtown, said business owners and employees plan to speak at Monday's City Council meeting.

“We have had a lot of businesses downtown who have had customers who said they will not be coming downtown during the course of the games,” he said.

Patrick Callahan, chairman of the Cool Spring Downtown District, said he hopes a compromise can be reached.

“I would say there appears to be at least a significant minority of business owners and merchants in the downtown that have concerns about that $10 fee and what it means for their employees and what it can mean for their customers,” he said.

He said city officials seem amenable to allowing businesses to pay the $50 a month parking fee it charges for city lots and not the additional $10 during games. McLaurin Parking was initially charging the $10 but has backed off.

“I'm not sure that information is fully disseminated to all the merchants just yet,” Callahan said. “The same offer is there for residents, and I don't think that information has fully gone out either.”

John Malzone, a downtown real estate broker and property manager, said he, too, is hearing complaints.

“I'm hearing it from some of my tenants,” he said. “And I'm trying to explain to everybody that this is a major transition right now. The city does not have all the answers, but they are trying to listen to the business owners. They are trying to listen to the employees and trying to work out an amenable solution.”

Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at jhenderson@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3596.