HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/7/2023 Item 6a, Stafford
From:Lynn Stafford <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Parking in SLO
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TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS:
I’d like to add to what seems like everyone else’s statements of extreme unhappiness for all the increases in parking fees
and new parking meters/fees in addi?onal areas of town as well. It was hard enough to FIND a nearby parking place in
downtown before, but the increased fees has created a double whammy.
I live in Los Osos and used to LOVE coming into charming downtown SLO with family or friends or to meet others
including those from the Estero Bay Newcomers Club for meals, shopping, or movies.
My husband and I, and EVERY other person we’ve talked with from the area have ALL recently found ourselves trying
hard to COMPLETELY avoid downtown.
The good news is that we are thoroughly enjoying restaurants and businesses on the outskirts of SLO, and spending
MUCH more ?me in other nearby towns. (They are the winners of your parking costs decision.) When friends and family
from out of the area come to visit us, we now take them everywhere BUT downtown SLO. When we buy gi? cer?ficates
as gi?s, it is NOT from businesses in downtown SLO. You get the idea.
Something needs to change quickly or your charming downtown is going to lose so much business that it will be “mostly
empty businesses” downtown.
Where to start?
1) “First hour free” needs to come back NOW in EVERY parking loca?on, before we all get completely out of the habit of
even thinking of going into downtown SLO.
2) Second, those green parking areas (short term parking) need to be available in MANY more loca?ons for people to
park and run in for quick business (like grabbing treats at Swee?e Cup, a quick purchase at Bath and Body Works, a pick-
up of ordered food from any restaurant, picking up of something from Mannikins Tailoring, or a quick gi? of flowers from
Open Air Flowers). Obviously, handicapped parking spots need to be available in mul?ple loca?ons for the same reasons.
Currently a handicapped family member doesn’t go anywhere in downtown because of lack of loca?ons she could
maneuver from car to business and back.
3) A?er that, explore what other towns have done to keep their downtowns viable and charming without charging for
parking at all. It is possible.
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Thank you for your considera?on. I look forward to seeing posi?ve changes. I miss downtown and especially miss
wandering in and out of stores and stopping for a meal with no worry about how VERY much it costs to park while I do
these things.
E. Lynn Stafford
Sent from my iPhone
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