HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/21/2023 Item 6a, Swigger
From:Bettina Swigger <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Item 6a: Access & Parking Management Plan
This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond.
Honorable Mayor and City Council,
On behalf of Downtown SLO and the Parking and Access Committee of Downtown SLO, thank you for the
opportunity to provide input while you consider adopting the Access and Parking Management Plan (item 6a).
During the development of the draft plan, our Parking and Access Committee met with City Staff and provided
feedback to the original draft. We appreciate that our comments and feedback to the draft plan have been
included in the staff report that accompanies the plan.
We’re pleased to see the following items included in the staff report and look forward to learning more about
them as they are developed:
- Freezing prices for existing options for parking permits and validation programs to downtown businesses
and residents to make parking easier and build awareness so utilization/revenue can increase.
- Design/promotion of affordable, accessible employee parking options
- Creation of a "local incentive" program to encourage local residents to come downtown and support
downtown shops, restaurants, and services. Tourists don't care what they pay; locals do, and the upcoming
approved rate changes have the potential to cause public outcry. We will be paying particular attention to how
this program can be operationalized and promoted, as we have long advocated for the First Hour Free as an
incentive to drive long-term parkers to the parking structure and keep curbside spots in steady circulation.
While the goals in the plan around mode shift and incentivizing non-car traffic to access downtown are
admirable from an environmental standpoint, we are concerned that this 5-year plan does not align with the
reality of the ways in which people currently access downtown. The plan assumes people have a choice when
accessing downtown, and they often do not, if they live in another city due to the lack of available/efficient
transit. This is true for customers and employees. We hope there is an opportunity for local transit plans to
address the need for better, more efficient transit and that there is an exploration of other ways to expand
transit access to downtown, including bringing back the Downtown trolley route.
Finally, while we understand the need for rate changes in order to move forward with the financing/construction
of the Cultural Arts District Parking Structure, many businesses have concerns about how visitation to
downtown will be affected once they go into effect. We will be participating in these conversations as they
proceed.
Your Downtown business owners, employees, and patrons thank you for your careful consideration of this
complex topic.
Respectfully,
Bettina Swigger, CEO
Shannon DalPorto, Operations & Public Space Manager
1
--
To help protect your
privacy, Microsoft Office
Bettina Swigger
prevented automatic
download of this picture
from the Internet.
Chief Executive Officer, Downtown SLO
(805)234-9677 | (719)322-6438 | DowntownSLO.com
Bettina@DowntownSLO.com
1135 Chorro, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 | She/hers
Create your own email signature
To
help
prot
ect
your
priva
cy, …
2