HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/7/2023 Item 6a, Shaouat
Dylan Shaouat <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Downtown Parking
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Good morning,
My name is Dylan Shaouat and I am a downtown San Luis Obispo worker at Old SLO BBQ on Higuera. I heard about a
council meeting occurring soon, and although I am unable to attend, I wanted to give my opinions on the current
situation. All parking structures downtown make you pay $3 an hour, with it going up to $12 as a maximum (if you don't
park overnight). The California minimum wage is currently $15.50, and although I personally make more than minimum
wage, there are hundreds of workers downtown that do, and doing the simple math shows how much money
downtown employees are losing. Let's say you make $15.50 an hour and have to pay $12 every time you go into work.
You are losing close to a full hour's worth of work every shift you work just because you are almost forced to park in one
of the structures downtown with close to no other options unless you want to risk a ticket, or walk way more than you
should have to in order to work a shift. I, among many others, believe that this is definitely not the smartest way to go
about this and there are many other options that can occur which don't take much brainstorming. One possible option is
that there could be a specific area for all downtown employees to park while they are currently working only, and they
wouldn't have to pay for it, or if they did, perhaps it could be a monthly type deal. Another possible option is to make it
so employees have some sort of way of changing the ticket that the machine gives you when you enter a structure in
order for it not to charge them when they leave, or maybe at a reduced cost. There are many options available and I am
sure that the rest of the community and especially other downtown employees have plenty of ideas that can help out.
Please keep us in mind, we matter too, thank you for hearing me out.
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