HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/7/2023 Item 6a, Allen
38 PM
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Please return to previous parking rates
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I’m writing as a concerned community member. Please reconsider the raise in parking rates downtown!
Policy decisions over just the last couple of years (since May 2021) including: extending meters to include Sundays;
extending meters to 9pm, extending meters to include loading zones from 6pm-9pm; increasing the meter rate from
$1.25 to $4; and now a planned meter rate increase to $5 per hour in January 2024 (a QUADRUPLING of the hourly
rate), combined with new shopping centers providing free parking, and an ever increasing number of addict and
mentally ill vagrants, is driving locals away from downtown. Locals aren’t coming downtown for dinner, drinks or
shopping. We are seeing less of previously regular customers and they are telling downtown business owners that
they can’t afford the added cost of parking. Fewer locals are planning their personal or business private events
downtown. Our event bookings are down 75% this fall. I was recently told, by an invitee of a business event
scheduled at our business: “Sadly, our charming little town has been overrun with bums and junkies so I don’t go
downtown after dark anymore.”
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It doesn’t stop with locals. Tourists are now routinely commenting on the cost of parking and the high vacancy rate
downtown. No one wants to visit a bombed out downtown and pay premium parking prices to do it. Once San Luis
Obispo is no longer perceived as having a thriving downtown, and we are close to that point, tourists will opt for
Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande, Avila, or Atascadero - all cities with vibrant downtowns offering free, or markedly
cheaper, parking and far fewer vagrants. Once that happens, we will truly be off the cliff.
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You must make changes in your policies now, before we reach the tipping point. Vacate the planned increase to $5
per hour and implement first 2 hours free at meters AND garages. Do not be responsible for killing one of the truly
remarkable downtowns left in California
Sincerely,
Liz Allen
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