HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/7/2023 Item 6a, Voss
From:M. Vomit <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:PARKING FEES
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To Whom It May Concern,
I am a local. I was born at Sierra Vista Hospital and raised in a downtown adjacent neighborhood. My sister raised her
family here. My mother grew up in Monterey Heights, and my long-dead grandparents were ac?ve community members
in SLO back in their day.
I grew up ea?ng on the greasy stools of Scrubby and Lloyds, and delivering the Telegram Tribune on my Schwinn bike to
downtown businesses like The Smart Shoppe and Green Bros. Clothing was one of my first jobs as a youth. I later worked
at Mel Hahn’s Ed’s Take Out—remember that place?!—and, as a teenager in the 1980s, Linnea’s was my second home. I
love downtown San Luis Obispo. I always have.
I’m not mad about the bike lanes. I have no problem walking a few blocks from a parking garage. I didn’t even mind the
curbside dining pavilions. In fact, I liked them. I also don’t have any issues with the pay kiosks. Big deal. Easy enough to
use as long as I can remember my license plate number.
Once or twice a week, when I go “into town” for errands from where I now live in Los Osos, I like to stop downtown, have
a walk about, stop in and see my downtown business owner friends, buy a li?le of this or that, and maybe have a bite to
eat at one of the places I can sit on a pa?o with my li?le dog. I like to pop into Barnes and Noble and see films at The
Palm. Not every week, but I regularly go to the Thursday night farmer’s market.
I don’t mind paying for parking. I don’t mind parking being pushed to the edge of downtown. (In fact, I’d support closing
Higuera to car traffic if it were possible, though I think it’s not so realis?c due to problems with service vehicle access,
etc.) However, the newly ins?tuted $4/hour parking rates mean I will no longer be patronizing downtown on a regular
basis. Instead of a buck or two to drop into town and be-pop around and see what’s going on, it’s now $4-8 bucks. And if
I see a movie a?er dinner, it’s more like $12-16 in addi?onal parking costs.
I don’t know what the city’s reasoning is for the exorbitant increase in parking fees. And, honestly, I don’t care. It isn’t
about affordability for me personally, though it certainly is for many people. I just know the rates have gone too high and
discourage locals and others from using the downtown area on a regular basis. I’m just one person, and I know I don’t
ma?er that much in the grand scheme of things. But s?ll, what a shame to lose a lifelong downtown SLO champion like
me over stupidly high parking fees.
I urge you to reconsider the parking fees in downtown SLO and bring them down to a level that will encourage and not
discourage people living in SLO and the surrounding communi?es from going downtown.
Mark Voss
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