HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/14/2024 Item 4a, Dee
Jim Dee <
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Subject:5/14/24 City Council Meeting: Agenda Item 4.a.
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To the Council:
I've had a downtown business since the 1970s. It is important to note that the current parking rules
are still keeping locals from the downtown -- the chorus of "we don't go downtown anymore" has not
changed since the last meeting back in November, and for my business to survive, it needs repeat
business from locals.
One recent instance proved how detrimental the current rules are: the 30th SLO Film Festival
recently wrapped. The response to my suggestion of "diving into the festival -- try to attend some
films and you'll have a great time" was "we have to limit our attendance because of the parking
fees." So the current rules are definitely discouraging people from enjoying the downtown.
In short, the ongoing changes in the rules are completely confusing. I recently had to correct a
number of patrons thinking parking was free downtown on Sundays. No, only in the structures as
they rudely found out when they got a ticket on the surface streets.
Please adapt a reasonable parking fee and rules and apply them across the board -- no difference
between the structures, the on-street parking whether in the downtown core or on the outskirts. I
suggest $2-2.50 an hour, no free hours, and ticket until 6pm, not 9pm. If those numbers applied to
ALL parking downtown, where visitors know exactly what the rules are, it would streamline the entire
process and eliminate confusion.
Jim Dee
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