Drivers who park in Portland's Central Eastside industrial district could soon find some familiar spaces converted into pay-to-park zones, disability parking, or employee-permit areas, under a proposal that would touch roughly 11% of the district's street parking. A few miles away, near the Moda Center, the city is also weighing whether to raise event-day parking rates from $5.40 to $8 an hour, a jump of nearly 50%.
The Central Eastside proposal comes from the Portland Bureau of Transportation, which says it is reshaping parking rules for about 11% of street spaces in the industrial district, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. The changes would include making some spaces paid parking, designating others for drivers with disabilities, and setting aside employee-permit spaces that would still let visitors park for up to two hours. PBOT has said the goal is to help customers find parking as more restaurants, shops and other businesses open in the district, while preserving spaces for the people who work there.
PBOT's own announcement frames the changes as a signage update rolling out this fall. This fall, the agency says it is changing the signage for some parking spaces in the Central Eastside, with select spaces converted to pay-to-park, disability parking, or employee-permit spaces that also allow visitors to park for up to two hours, according to the city's transportation bureau. Existing metered parking in the Central Eastside currently costs $2.20 an hour and generally operates from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday, per the same Oregonian/OregonLive report.
Council Vote and Study Behind the Plan
Portland City Council must approve the Central Eastside changes before they take effect, and the council is expected to take up the proposal this week. City officials studied parking demand and surveyed local businesses ahead of drafting the plan, the newspaper's report notes. Drivers curious about which blocks could be affected can check the city's interactive parking map, though the full list of streets involved has not been independently confirmed.
Hovering over the proposal is a budget backdrop: PBOT faces budget shortfalls and is looking for ways to cut costs and raise revenue, the outlet reports. Portland has raised parking rates twice in the past two years, including a roughly 25% citywide increase in 2025 that officials estimated would generate $5.5 million annually, plus a 20-cent increase in several districts in July 2026.
Eliot Neighborhood Weighs Steeper Event-Day Rates
Separately, PBOT has proposed raising event parking rates on certain Eliot neighborhood blocks north of the Moda Center from $5.40 to $8 per hour, according to KATU. The higher rate would apply only during large events expected to draw at least 10,000 people, when special parking restrictions already kick in. Under the current rate, three hours of parking costs $16.20; at the proposed $8 rate, the same stretch would run $24.
PBOT says fewer than 5% of Eliot's on-street parking spaces are vacant during peak event hours, underscoring just how tight parking gets when the arena fills up. A neighborhood association co-chair described the squeeze even more starkly to KATU, saying, “We have 96% or higher occupancy during events right now.” Officials say the higher rate is meant to discourage eventgoers from filling neighborhood streets and to leave more parking available for residents and local businesses.
Building on Past Event Parking Rules
Eliot's situation isn't new territory for PBOT. The bureau implemented the Lloyd Event District in 2022 to charge eventgoers for parking in that neighborhood, and in 2024 Portland established the Zone V Permit Area to prioritize parking for Eliot residents and discourage eventgoers from clogging neighborhood streets, per KATU's reporting. Drivers with Zone V permits would remain exempt from the proposed higher event rate and could keep parking beyond posted time limits while event restrictions are in effect.
Together, the two proposals reflect a city transportation bureau trying to squeeze more out of a limited curb while contending with tight budgets. Whether the Central Eastside signage changes and the Eliot rate hike both move forward will depend on what City Council decides and how PBOT phases in the rollout heading into the end of the year.
