Thumbs up: Santa Rosa cuts shopping some slack on parking

Curb your enthusiasm. There’s still no such thing as free parking - except on Monopoly boards. But Santa Rosa is at least headed in the right direction. Beginning on Nov. 24, the city will allow parking for free for the first hour at two of downtown’s largest parking garages, Garage 1 on Seventh Street and Garage 12 on First Street. After the first hour, parking charges will be reduced from 75 cents per hour to 50 cents per hour. Those rates will stay in place even after Jan. 1 when some of the busiest garages downtown are scheduled to see parking rates increase from $1 to $1.50 per hour.

Given how much the recent construction of Courthouse Square, to say nothing of the fires, have hurt downtown businesses, it would make more sense if the city offered more free parking, at least for the holiday seasons, not less. But as we said, it’s a start.