Should Parking Be Free At Celebration Cinema Downtown Grand Rapids?

I hadn't thought about parking much but when I was on mlive.com this morning the headline caught my eye.  Lots of people who live in the downtown Grand Rapids area were pretty excited to learn about the potential of Celebration Cinema opening up a movie theater and entertainment venue on Ionia just south of the Van Andel Arena.  I guess only someone who lives/works or visits downtown Grand Rapids considers  parking and its cost.  Sure you think about it for all the special events and concerts but when you consider the cost of a movie ticket and close to $7 to park, it just makes you want to pile as many people in to your car to keep the cost of parking down.  Of course, you can always ride The Rapids, they now have extended hours.  Who knows they may also open that window of opportunity for extended service on the weekends.  Or what about having a Park and Ride close by?  I'm sure there are reasonable answers but we just have to figure them out.

mlive.com says that parking was an issue for several readers.  Many compared it to the free parking at the other Celebration Cinema locations.  Is paid parking just a necessity when you have the luxury of living in any downtown city?

Others wonder if Celebration Cinema should build its own parking facility as part of the project?

Like it or not, all I know is when I have lived or even visited other cities, like St. Louis, Missouri for example, parking for that movie theater, inside Union Station, was paid parking.  Even in Israel this past December parking was not free.  Will Grand Rapids support it?  Only time will tell...