HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/7/2022 Item 6a, Mullen (2)
Delgado, Adriana
Laura Mullen <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Feedback on Parking Rate adjustments
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Dear Mayor Stewart, Councilmembers Christianson, Pease, Marx and Shoresman,
As a 30-year resident who is on the Board of HumanKind Fair Trade on Monterey Street and active on the
Board and committees of Downtown SLO, I'm in a conundrum. While fully supportive of the prompt
construction of the Cultural Arts parking structure and adjacent SLO REP Theater, the parking rate increases
and other parking-related changes that are said to be the only way to fund such a structure are concerning.
In your deliberations on this issue, could you please take into consideration:
Continuing the hour free in the structures, even if only during Monday through Wednesday. Those
are typically slower times downtown anyway and could serve as an incentive to locals by helping to
keep costs of coming downtown more palatable. We don't need any other reasons to not come
downtown. I made a cursory review of Santa Barbarba, Santa Monica and Monterey city parking and
all provide between one hour and 90 minutes of free parking in city structures.
Consider a special daily rate for employees working downtown, and/or other incentives. Most DT
businesses do not have the capability to provide parking funding for their employees. It is coming out
of the pocket of the people who can least afford to pay the extra. Hiring is a hurdle for every business
now and this rate increase is just another hoop to jump through in an effort to attract staff. It is not
just tourists who will be bearing the brunt of these increases. What are creative options for this?
Collect revenue that is escaping through open gates in parking structures. I parked in the structure by
the library on Thursday, May 27 and drove out under an open gate at about 7:30 p.m. I had been
parked since about 3:30 p.m. The garage was packed because it was Farmers Market. This happens
frequently.
There have been so many recent changes downtown with the addition of parking kiosks, new parking apps
that many of us still don't know how to use, 6-9 p.m. parking requirements, bike lane installations, parklets,
and then the repaving slated in the core this summer, that it all just seems overwhelming to us locals. While
the Cultural Arts parking structure is important to the growth and vitality of downtown, we need to balance
other factors as well. Some of us just need a bit of breathing room!
Thanks for all you do,
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Laura Beauchamp Mullen
2234 Flora Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
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