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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/14/2024 Item 4a, Pyburn From:susan pyburn < To:CityClerk Subject:Re: Council Meeting Recap Related to Parking Item This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond. Dear Council Members, I live in SLO and I enjoy frequenting theatres and restaurants as well as shopping downtown. i do not enjoy pricey parking - whatever the rationale may be. I am writing to urge you to save our city center and the local economy by maintaining a resident and tourist-friendly parking policy that does not feel like highway robbery. To quote from a letter I received (from the council) last fall when this issue arose, referencing the one hour free parking in structures and all day Sunday, as follows: "These free parking options will be available at least through June 30, 2025." As you will note, this is May of 2024. I look forward to another year of said policy. I have been informed that you plan to take this matter up again this week to consider options presented by a consulting party. I strongly urge you to adopt Option B. it is the only reasonable option that can preserve local shops and the vitality of our town. As I have said before, Iam note interested in subsidizing the increased costs of the new lot or the fancy upgraded theater. It is unfortunate that costs have gone up, but residents and tourists should not have to pay for those increased costs. If these developments are no longer affordable, than scrap them. We do NOT NEED a NEW EXPANDED THEATRE. I have personally enjoyed our existing theatre many times and will happily enjoy doing so in its existing state. You must do what families do when costs exceed income. Change plans, but don't stick it to visitors and the foundational vitality of our few existing shops. 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 On Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 05:29:50 PM PST, City of San Luis Obispo <cityclerk@slocity.org> wrote: View this email in your browser To help prot ect your priva cy, Thank you for writing to the City Council with your concerns about parking in downtown San Luis Obispo. As you know, the City Council held a public meeting yesterday to discuss the issue and made some decisions that will be of interest to you. Below is a truncated version of the Council Meeting Recap we published and sent to our e-notification subscribers today. Click here to read the full Council Meeting Recap. If you would like to receive updates on the upcoming Parking Rate Study or any other City program or project downtown, please sign up for e-notifications at www.slocity.org/Subscribe and select the “Downtown” news topic. Thank you, The City of San Luis Obispo Team Parking downtown will soon be free for one hour and on Sundays in the parking structures (Item 6a) The City Council discussed the public parking program on Tuesday and recognized that new parking rates and other downtown parking changes have been challenging for some community members and the business community. 2 After hearing from hundreds of community members who care deeply about the downtown, and after reviewing the status and forecast of the City’s Parking Fund, City Council decided to provide immediate relief from the new parking rates. Starting Nov. 23, 2023, parking downtown will be free of charge in the following ways:  For one hour every day in the public parking structures  Every Sunday in the public parking structures  During the annual downtown holiday parade starting at 6:00 PM (both on- street and in the structures) These free parking options will be available at least through June 30, 2025. The decision to provide this immediate relief was possible because the City is in a better financial position than projected. Debt financing to fund the new parking structure project was secured at a lower interest rate than expected because of the City's strong financial management practices. This means the City will pay about $1 million less annually over the first five years of debt repayment. At the same time, the Parking Fund is projected to have a surplus of about $1 million this fiscal year. However, despite these immediate actions and relief, Council members recognized that more should be done, and community members offered many ideas for making downtown parking more user-friendly and affordable. To explore some of these ideas, Council directed staff to move forward with a Parking Rate Study that will include community engagement to analyze parking demand, pricing, and user experience. Long-term solutions from the Parking Rate Study will be brought to Council in the spring of 2024 to help keep downtown parking accessible and affordable. Council also directed staff to:  return with changes to forego on-street parking rate adjustments originally planned for July 1, 2025.  develop a program that will allow for more on-street parking utilization on Dana Street. 3 Click here to read the full Council Meeting Recap. Copyright © 2023 Parking Services, City of San Luis Obispo, All rights reserved. You are receiving this message because you registered for a parking permit or parking program with the City of San Luis Obispo. Our mailing address is: Parking Services, City of San Luis Obispo 1260 Chorro St., Suite B San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3934 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. 4