HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/7/2023 Item 6a, Akers
From:Steve Akers <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Item 6: Parking feedback
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Dear Council Members,
I'm wri?ng to add my voice to the many who have already expressed their befuddlement at the current state of parking
in the City of SLO and to propose some possible op?ons.
First, on the transi?on to apps and kiosks instead of con?nuing to pay local people to operate the parking garages. I know
that to many people "the future" is all about tech and automa?on, but "the future" in SLO should also be about people,
including paying local people to work instead of paying far-off tech vendors who replace local jobs and services with
kiosks and apps. I know this has already taken place and that hindsight is 20/20, but the way in which this transi?on has
been implemented has been a letdown for a huge por?on of local residents, in the City of SLO and beyond.
Since we already have this new system in place, what can we do to fix it? I've read about the possible return of the "one
free hour" at all of the ci?es garages. That's a good start, if it happens.
I've also seen men?on of rates being lowered, another good idea, if it happens.
I have two ideas that I hope the Council or staff will address (though I'm likely not the first person to propose them).
First, since we're using programmable technology to sell parking, why not program the apps and kiosks to sell shorter
increments of ?me? At the Palm St structure the minimum ?me one can buy is one hour. What if I only need half an
hour? Currently I s?ll need to pay the full hour regardless of whether I need it or not. In the old system you payed for the
?me you used the garage, in the current system you pay for an hour minimum. Even if we bring back the free first hour, if
I need 1.5 hours I'm s?ll being charged for an extra half an hour I won't use and shouldn't have to pay for. Why can't the
City insist that our vendors program this in? Or is this op?on already an op?on from the vendors that we have yet to
implement?
Second, if for some reason we aren't able to offer the op?on to purchase smaller amounts of ?me, we should consider
systems that charge only for the amounts of ?me used. So if the shortest amount of ?me purchased in the garages
remains 1 hour, we should set up a system in which when we leave the garage our license plate is read by a scanner and
then we're refunded for the ?me we paid for but didn't use.
As it stands now it feels like the switch to apps and kiosks have put us at the mercy of these technologies. But these
technologies are programmed by our vendors and as a community we should insist on more flexibility, either in the ?me
we need to purchase or in ge?ng charged only for the ?me we actually use.
Thanks for listening,
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Steve Akers
City of SLO resident
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