HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/7/2023 Item 6a, Pyburn
susan pyburn <
To:E-mail Council Website; Erica A. Stewart
Subject:SLO Parking Policy
Attachments:parking policy11.5.23.doc
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Please see my attached letter, below.
Thank you.
Susan Pyburn
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King Jr
http://herownlens.smugmug.com
1
Susan Pyburn
1061 Grove Street
SLO 93401
805-801-0672
November 5, 2023
To: Honorable Mayor Erica Stewart
City Council Members
Re: Parking Policy
I have lived in SLO County for 23 years, and SLO for 19 years and have often enjoyed
shopping and dining locally. Sadly, the erosion of shop and restaurant closures
downtown reflect a loss of economic vitality amid signs of a deteriorating
community.
Over the past two years, more than 20 restaurants have closed, half of them in the
Downtown Core. Since 2019, at least 14 retail businesses have shuttered, most
downtown. While due, in part, to the pandemic, such losses lessen the appeal of our
community and detract from its economic viability.
To add to this a formidable and costly parking policy is the death knell to welcoming
locals or tourists. I have never had trouble finding a parking spot. Nor have I found
parking structure policies or meters to be confounding or excessively costly, in the
past. I have enjoyed seeing live humans in the kiosks...and not as an emergency
teaching tool to learn how to use machines
To be confronted with $4.00/hourly parking rates (until 9:00pm) is insulting. Add to
that meters that require a technical degree to figure out - and you now have a most
unwelcoming town that was once known as the 'Happiest place in the U.S."
Innumerable conversations with friends and shop-owners reflect exasperation and,
frankly, anger. I was not asked to weigh in on these changes. Yes, promises and
plans were made to build a new parking structure and a larger repertory theatre to
replace SLO Rep. And, while I am a fan of SLO Rep, I don't find the space to be
cramped. It would be 'nice' to have a larger venue, but it needs to be revisited if we
cannot afford it. That is what people do. Neither one is urgent. Such costs should not
be borne by local citizens and tourists. I will make fewer visits downtown and avoid
parking. Which is why I won't be attending the November 7 Council meeting in
person. I don't want to pay $12.