HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/7/2022 Item 6a, Stackhouse
Delgado, Adriana
From:Steph Stackhouse <stephstackhouse@gmail.com>
Sent:Friday, June 3, 2022
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Feedback on 6/7 Council Meeting Agenda item: 6a. Supplemental Budget 2022-23
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Council Members and City Staff,
In response to the June 2nd press release about the proposed parking rate increases, I would like to share my concerns about the potential impact to
patrons of our business. I own The Center Studio and Boutique located at 672 Higuera St. We have owned and operated our business downtown for the
past 8 years. We offer 65 yoga and fitness classes per week and get over 900 visits to our studio per week. Our customers live throughout SLO County and
come from as far as Paso Robles and Santa Maria to take classes at our studio.
Our classes range from 45 min to 75 min and most are 60 min. So, if a customer parks at a metered spot, they pay a minimum of $3 for 90 minutes. With the
proposed rate increase to $4 per hour, July 2023, they will pay about $6 per class. That is a steep increase that has the potential to deter customers, which
could result in a severe impact our business.
With the most recent set of parking increases last year (parking rate increases plus extending parking hours to 9p) and the loss of several parking spaces to
parklets, we communicated to our customers that we take into account the extra expense of parking when pricing our services. It makes it more challenging
for us to charge market value for our services with our location downtown. While we enjoy the benefit of tourists as a downtown business and charge
market value for drop-in classes, the foundation of our business is based on locals who have monthly auto-pay memberships. Many of our members take
class 2-3 times per week. If I put myself in the shoes of our members who live “driving distance” from downtown, I would have to consider alternatives with
the proposed increases to parking. It is an impactful jump over the last couple of years particularly at a time when everything is more expensive.
This also creates challenges for our employees, most of whom are instructors who come in to teach one class per day and so park at metered spaces or
benefit from the first hour free in the downtown garages.
This is a complex situation but given the potential impact to downtown businesses, I request that:
1) More time be spent doing a thorough analysis of parking rates throughout CA and how SLO would rank in terms of costs. I did a Google search of
rates for several cities in the Bay Area, the Central Coast (Monterey to Ventura) and So Cal and most offer some amount of free parking in lots or
garages and meters are $0.75 to $2.00 per hour. I could not find other cities that are as high as what’s being proposed.
2) The city consider allocating pandemic relief and economic recovery funds to fund the parking structure construction and investigate other potential
funding sources and methods (grants, business sponsorships, private donors for creation of a new arts and cultural district).
The Cultural District garage is an important addition to the infrastructure of our downtown but all efforts should be made to avoid harming downtown small
businesses still in the process of recovering in many different ways from a challenging time.
The core of our business is to provide services that help support physical and mental wellness, where people feel comfortable and safe gathering and
spending time in our downtown. This is a material change for our customers and the sustainability of our business so thank you for your consideration.
Steph Stackhouse
Owner, The Center Studio + Boutique
www.thecenterslo.com
805.903.2729
stephstackhouse@gmail.com
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