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Fewer Parking Spaces? Paid Parking?

Paid

Paid parking will change the character of the downtown experience

By Daniel Urazandi

downtowndavis.org is an association of small businesses that oppose paid parking downtown. Here's why: (the city has been unable or unwilling to provide certain numbers upon request. Those are marked by the #? symbol)

People do not want to pay to park, everyone admits that. Forcing them to will make them visit downtown less and for shorter periods of time. The city calls this increasing parking availability, we call it driving traffic away from downtown. Less drivers means less customers, less sales, eventually less shops.

The city's plan not only doesn't add a single parking space, it takes away an undisclosed #? amount as the meters will come with ADA legislated handicapped only spaces in the streets. Since the existing handicapped spaces are not all used these will be mostly vacant spaces.

No new spaces means the only way promised space will be created will be by driving other drivers away. Who gets run off in the city's plan?

The plan is supposed to force employees to the periphery. But permits target employees while meters go after everyone. Customers are as likely to be driven off or more so than folks who are getting paid to come downtown (though not getting paid enough they should pay a new tax on all their hours).

The city says that people who pay to park are more likely to spend more. This is elitism. We want downtown to be accessible to everyone, not just the rich. Students, elderly and fixed income drivers should not be driven away with a parking tax.

While driving traffic away is bad for everyone, paid parking hits some businesses disproportionately. We are seeing many retail shops closing or moving and being replaced after long vacancies by chain restaurants. Paid parking will exacerbate this problem.

Paid parking will change the character of the downtown experience. Once we are all “on the meter” the stress of it eliminates window shopping, casual conversation, getting a drink or a snack after running errands, all the things we do on a trip downtown when we have the time. Instead we will have to rush back to our cars and get the Hell out or get a ticket. The city calls this “turnover” and lists it as an asset but turning downtown into a drive-thru is not our idea of an improvement.

E-St-Graph-2
There is no data or reasonable expectation saying that people who don't want to pay the parking tax will bike downtown or take public transportation instead. They are more likely to drive further to a mall or big box store, maybe even out of town, where parking is free. We expect more driving to result from paid parking, just less driving to downtown.

Downtown wants to draw from Woodland, Dixon, Winters, etc. Regional drivers will be less likely to come to Davis if they have to pay extra to park and Davisites may be enticed away as all these neighbors have free parking in their downtowns. To my knowledge the city has not taken loss of sales tax revenue #? into account when considering the impacts of paid parking.

It is also obvious that people will be looking for free parking in and around downtown. This means the areas that are not taxed will be overrun while those that are empty out. Being on the periphery will now mean that all your parking will be taken by drivers not visiting your business but ones blocks away. Private spaces will be taken by people ducking meters. The residences close to downtown will also see increased traffic of free parking seekers.

And of course the installation will be disruptive, the system will be a hassle and the number of tickets is going to shoot up.

Yes, the parking tax will make the city money #? though they won't say how much after the installation and enforcement cost. They also won't say #? how much it will cost for us to park but they are saying that they intend to raise costs as high as the market will bear to “manage” the traffic. But despite all evidence to the contrary, the city claims they are not doing this for the money, they are doing it to alleviate the parking shortage and help downtown. But it will hurt instead of help and downtown doesn't want it so if city doesn't even want the money there is no reason to go ahead with paid parking.

The proponents of paid parking have their experts, but once you know what you want to happen you can just pick your expert to match. The city paid a consultancy firm $1.5million to say paid parking is a good thing but I think downtown Davis knows more about downtown Davis and we will give the city our opinion for free if they will listen. Davis is not a high density tourist town like the other cities cited and served by the consultants. You can't expect Davis to be like SF, but we can expect Davisites to respond to paid parking as they have in the past. The impacts will be similar, though perhaps less drastic, to the change when the E St lot went paid and lost half of its use overnight. We know these things because we saw them happen. The experts on Davis live in Davis.

The Davis Downtown Business Association (DDBA) misled the city and the Council when the DDBA board endorsed paid parking. This gave the false impression that downtown business was OK with paid parking when surveys of DDBA members (which DDBA never took) show over 90% opposition to it. DDBA's board has so far refused to ask its membership's opinion and may maintain their position on paid parking but Council needs to reconsider given that they were misinformed.

The parking task force did a study in 2014 and gave a list of recommendations. Paid parking was on that list, but it was one of the last resorts after many other preferred changes. The city reversed the order to put paid parking as priority one while holding off on the rest. All the other suggestions should be implemented first to see if the parking shortage can be alleviated without a parking tax.

In recent years the city has removed parking spaces to bulb-outs, zipcars, bike parking in the street, patios, etc. The city has refused to disclose the total number #? of spaces removed but I walked the streets and counted well over 60 spaces, a number that is very close to what the city hopes to gain with paid parking, though they won't say what that number is #? exactly either. This means the city mismanaged the parking downtown by removing spaces until there was a critical shortage, then wants to tax what is left to relieve the shortage. All street and lot space downtown should be reclaimed when possible, fully and efficiently utilized and treated like a scarce resource, not thrown away for minor aesthetics.

The lot at 4th and G has plenty of space. Issuing employee parking permits through employers for that lot and other underused peripheral space is a smart way to move employees without running off customers.

Paid parking is not a solution. It is a problem worse than what it pretends to fix. Real and sensible solutions remain unexplored that utilize existing resources without taxing them. The city claims they are not doing this for the tax money but to help downtown. They should listen to the businesses, customers, residents, employees, neighbors and visitors of downtown when we say we neither want nor need this help.

More info and actions on paid parking is at downtowndavis.org

Comments

Nancy Price

I am completely opposed to paid parking for all the reasons stated. This article raises very important questions as to city transparency and process.

How can we help turn back the move to paid parking?

Please respond here and also write to The Davis Enterprise and to the Davis Vanguard 5 ways the public can help and become more engaged on this issue and the dates when or if this is coming up for further debate and discussion before the city commissions or the city council.

Once these meters are in.....there is no turning back. So we must mobilize the public now.

Donna Lemongello

To summarize, it will make a big mess and cost a bunch to install and drive away business. $1.5 million, really, to be told this? More unfathomable WASTE of money that could have been put to something we really need like road repair, and then they'll keep asking for money for the real needs, and keep wasting it. Are you listening City Council?

Eileen Samitz

I completely agree with the author. Charging for parking in the downtown will only de-motivate shoppers from coming down and spending their dollars in Davis. Worse yet, it will only increase out carbon footprint by encouraging people to drive outside of town to Woodland most likely, where there is plenty of free parking. On top of that the City will hurt the Davis downtown businesses sales, thereby decreasing the needed sales tax and ultimately driving them out of business. The paid parking idea needs to come back to the City Council to be re-addressed before spending the significant amount of money it would cost to install the paid parking system, and unintentionally putting our much needed retail stores out of business.

Todd Edelman

Dynamic parking prices make it easier to park, which makes shopping easier, eases traffic as it reduces block-circling, thus making walking and cycling safer, and then likely increasing the latter. You price it right and you can increase funding for transit, which will work to decrease narcissistic Neo-Liberal Lyft-Uber chaos.

"Reclaiming parking" is disgusting entitlement, as if the spaces along the sides of the streets were meant for cars.

About E St. Plaza, it is always seems to be full of cars, except when the City takes it over for vile holiday activities with children and singing.

Correct about 4th and G. But if people won't park there now, why would they park on more peripheral streets?

It is true that more peripheral businesses with "free" parking lots need to be good neighbors - Hey Nugget, hey Co-op, hey Safeway! You seeing this? - and agree to charge at least a little for parking.

Somehow people think that physics and international best practice doesn't apply in Davis, or that professional traffic consultants are part of some secret agenda. (Really, the perspective here is not far from saying that George Soros is implementing parking parking in Davis....)

Here is a history lesson: https://youtu.be/vxopfjXkArM

Colin Walsh

A few comments to follow up what Todd has posted:
Dynamic pricing = unpredictable cost. it is designed to keep people from driving downtown during peek times. That will likely mean fewer customers for downtown businesses.

"Reclaiming parking" by Dan's count 60 parking spaces have been removed from downtown, I can see why he suggests he would use the word "reclaim" when talking about putting more parking back. I do appreciate the idea I think Todd is putting forward that roads and parking is not inherently for cars, and other modes of transit and uses should be considered. All of these considerations, and parking need to be considered when making these types of decisions. I have never ridden my bike downtown and failed to find a place to park it with in 20 feet or so of my destination.

E street plaza - this data is from the city. there are fewer people parking there since paid parking was implemented.

Good luck getting private parking lots at peripheral businesses to charge for parking. Also, do you really want to make groceries more expensive for everyone? It would also be one more reason to go to Costco in Woodland.

Finally the reference to George Soros is way over the top. Dan is a local business owner, and is meeting with other local business owners. they likely have a pretty good sense of what they need to keep their businesses going their opinions should be values.

I think we all agree that fewer cars is a positive goal. I just don't think our independent local businesses should be casualties of that goal.

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