HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/7/2023 Item 6a, Open Air Flowers
Open Air Flowers <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Parking Downtown
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Dear SLO City Council members,
Unfortunately, we are unavailable to attend the meeting in person but we didn't wanna miss the chance to voice our
opinion.
With the extended hours of enforcement and the recent price increases we are met with constant frustration from our
customers. Parking downtown has been already challenging before the latest changes (not enough spots available etc.)
but it has gotten much worse. Having to pay $4 per hour a lot of people opt to shorten their time visiting local
businesses andt rather frequent big brand stores with plenty of free parking. Downtown businesses are paying a
premium price for location with the promise of locals as well as tourists frequenting the area. Unfortunately, people
strolling has become less and more and more locals are avoiding downtown completely.
Due to the nature of our business (receiving daily deliveries from third party vendors, facilitating deliveries in our
company vehicle and being a retail business serving customers) we feel the frustration in multiple ways. Delivery
trucks are not able to find appropriate spots (not enough loading zones for the amount of businesses in the area) and
are often met with time restrictions for their load in / out times (10 minutes is absolutely not enough). We are fighting
the daily battle of finding a parking spot close by that makes loading multiple delivery runs per day possible. More often
we have to rush the process due to the parking situation which can be dangerous. Customers rush their buying
experience and although they are willing to support local businesses the parking situation has become a burden to do
so.
A downtown wide validation program where the first 2 hours are free with a qualified purchase over a certain amount at
a local downtown business would be much appreciated by customers as well as business owners.
Thanks,
Lisa | Open Air Flowers
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