Parking Proposal                                                 Your Thoughts

 

 

Downtown Business Owners and Property Owners:

When the City of Escondido changed the way parking permits were being issued, I sent the attached Parking Proposal to the City and DBA.  In my opinion, it was well received, however much discussion has arisen about changes to my first draft.  I would like to bring everyone up to speed on what is up in the air.

 As you all may be aware, there is a push to resolve the parking situation for downtown which has been overdue.  When the City changed the way parking permits were issued, they thought it might free up some parking for other people.  They said people were hording passes and this would open up more permits for people on the waiting list.  Some property owners were keeping the parking permits to give to future tenants.  I was one of those people who had the parking permits from one of my recently vacated tenants.  If you try to entice a new tenant to relocate into our downtown and cannot give them any assurance that their business will not have any parking, they will go elsewhere.  If they have determined that their business is best suited in a downtown environment then they will go to some other city.  As you look around downtown you will see that we have more vacancy then we had in the 90’s.  All this vacancy reduces foot traffic that businesses need to survive.  Without customers and foot traffic your business will not survive this downturn in the overall economy.  In the building I own on Grand and Broadway I now have a downstairs corner vacancy for the first time in 19 years.  I had to give up the parking permits that Fireside Bank had been using for 19 years.  Despite active interest in the space, I have not been able to lease the space due to non-availability of permanent parking permits for employees.  This is going to occur for every vacancy in downtown, and if more spaces should become vacant, the lack of traffic and permits, will continue to erode the customers that each business depends on.  I think my proposal will help fix the problem.  I would like to hear from anyone with additional suggestions. 

The DBA is meeting on this and will be formulating a proposal to take to City Counsel incorporating some of my proposal and some other ideas.  Discussion is leaning for an increase to the $14 dollar monthly fee to a number that have been tossed around of $31.00-$42.00 per month.  I am not in favor of this increase at this time.  This increase may not sound like much to some people, but a waitress at a restaurant or a store clerk on minimum wage would have to work four to five extra hours a month to pay for a $35.00 permit.

 In the proposal letter I sent to council, DBA Executives Committee and The Parking Committee members in April, you will see that I suggest those items below.  Since then I have meet with DBA Committees and City Officials promoting these changes. 

·         Have the city allow us to buy as many parking permits as we need.  This should create more revenue by selling more permits.  The cars are already here, they just get moved around every two to three hours to avoid tickets.  All you business owners know how disruptive and non-productive this is to your business.  Many times you miss the deadline and get a $40.00 parking ticket anyway.  This would also put all the long-term parking in the lots, freeing up your prime street parking for customers.  You will need to educate your employees as to the need for good customer parking.  This will be the responsibility of each business to do. 

·         Permits should be universal to any public lot in downtown and not lot specific.  This will allow people to park anywhere in any lot on a first come first serve basis. There has been some discussion that Lot #1 be preserved for customers.  Employee parking by permit should be in other lots.  I feel this is great if your business is by Lot #1, but what does that do to your business if it is by the lot designated as an employee lot.  I am not in favor of this even though it would be better for my building. It needs to be fair and equal to all. 

·         DO NOT raise the fees at this time.  The City has informed me that the cost to maintain the parking lot is more than the permits produce in income.  Parking lot lights, landscaping, and maintenance. It is short by about $50,000 per year.  The City doesn’t charge property owners to light our streets, or maintain our highways.  The City pays for the electricity at the Convention Center that has a shortfall each year.  The City has $20,000,000 dollars to promote downtown for a hotel.  Why not wait until the economy gets better, or the hotel is here, to see how well we are doing to before raising the fees?  The City has been covering this cost for years, so waiting a little longer, until our vacancies are reduced and our economy has become more stable, shouldn’t hurt. 

·         Diagonal Parking on Grand and side streets.  There are pros and cons to this. Safety is the first issue.  Some City’s have installed diagonal parking where you back in so visibility is improved when pulling out.  I’m not sure if that is the call, since backing in for some people is just as hard as parallel parking.  We have now installed stop signs at most intersections in downtown.  This has slowed the traffic down on Grand Avenue.  This should help the safety issue out, in support of diagonal parking. Additional parking can be achieved by changing from parallel parking to diagonal. Even if the increase is minimal,  I think diagonal parking is more user-friendly and will not be so intimidating for those who can’t parallel park with any amount of efficiency. If diagonal parking is installed on Grand Avenue, it will reduce the traffic to one lane. We have 2^nd Avenue and Valley Parkway going East and West for people interested in traveling through town at a faster rate of speed. 

·         Parking meters have been discussed.  This has some merits to allow customers to park longer than two hours.  Some of you may remember when we had meters.  The merchants of downtown would have people walking around and put money in the meters so the customer would not get a ticket.  Allowing someone the ability to park longer is a plus.  We don’t want to limit the time someone is shopping or eating, but we should figure a way to let them park the first two hours for free, if meters are decided on. Let’s not punish our customers for coming here or staying longer.  What if you had to move your car after two hours if you went to the Westfield North County Fair Mall?  

I would like to hear back from anyone in support of this, or not, plus any other suggestions you may have to improve this proposal.  You know what works for your business.  If you don’t voice your opinion now, decisions are going to be made by your representatives at the DBA or City Council.  This is going to be done and could affect your business negatively without your input.  There are people that will be advising Council that do not have a business or building in downtown and may not be as sensitive to your needs.  When responding please put PARKING in the subject line of your e-mail.  Time is of the essence, the meetings are scheduled in the next week or so.  PARKING IS THE LIFEBLOOD OF YOUR BUSINESS! 

Thank you for taking the time to read, consider and hopefully respond to this letter.  I look forward to discussing any suggestions you may have so please email me at jcrone@jamescrone.com, or hit reply and Rachelle Harrison in my office will get your information to me.

 Sincerely, 

Jim Crone