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folks we love our beautiful downtown parking, don't we?
it is brand new news to me that there is a "park & ride" lot on avon???? city parking director rick siebert says it's "virtually unused."
siebert says it takes 20 minutes to take the bus from the park & ride lot on avon to the bus station on the downtown mall & 40 minutes to take the trip back. the bus along this route runs once per hour.
(the park & ride lot is at 1505 Avon Street Extended, 1.5 miles from the downtown transit center. it would take less than 40 minutes to walk, but it isn't actually safe to walk down avon so 
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someone asks about the proposed digital readout signs for the parking garages displaying the # of current open spots - the two roadblocks here have been cost & approval from the board of architectural review. the info is available on the city's website.
https://charlottesville.org/240/Parking-Garages
https://charlottesville.org/240/Parking-Garages
"it's clear that there's a bit of a perception problem," says jake mooney. people FEEL like there's no parking downtown but in fact there is pretty much always parking downtown. people aren't checking the city's app for this information.
seriously, there's always parking. look at the data. https://twitter.com/RoryStolzenberg/status/1338950451530772488?s=20
"there are limits to how much we can convince people that there is parking," says jamelle bouie. this may be a perception problem that can't be combated with an expanded marketing budget.
"i'm the most confused by the people who live here and think there's no place to park," says jake mooney. "i've never, never been unable to find a place to park within a 5 minute walk," he says, saying he works downtown & regularly attends concerts downtown.
joan fenton says that as a retail store owner, she hears it "all the time" that people don't come downtown because there is no parking. "a lot of people are very uncomfortable parking in a garage and want to park on the street."
jamelle says these are just anecdotes, we don't have any hard evidence that this is a serious problem - there's no proof that any significant number of residents are confused about whether there are parking spots downtown & that this is preventing them from shopping downtown.
kirby hutto says it's been an anecdotal thing for years and doesn't think people's minds can be changed, that it isn't worth spending money to change perceptions locally but focus on making it easier for visitors & people coming from out of town to shop.
i'm really struggling to understand what kind of person is driving around downtown in circles moaning about the lack of parking without ever turning to either of the two hulking parking garages with hundreds of empty parking spots inside.
unless you have some kind of tragic backstory like your uncle was killed in a parking garage collapse, you can't complain about there being no parking downtown just because you "don't feel comfortable" parking inside a garage. what does this mean. who is this person, joan?
lol they set the webinar up wrong so members of the public have access to the chat & @RoryStolzenberg dropped the link to @whatthecarp's parking data visualization (there's always parking!!!)
https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/7d72f879-914f-4e2c-9f1f-2860b90cffcc/page/5CP8
https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/7d72f879-914f-4e2c-9f1f-2860b90cffcc/page/5CP8
“if we increase supply more, are people even going to believe that there’s more, ever?” jake mooney asks. the problem isn’t lack of supply, it’s perception of a lack of supply. so why are we looking at building another garage?
rick siebert says another way to increase supply is to reduce demand for parking (yes!).
but instead of talking about robust public transit, he tells a dark anecdote about there being plenty of parking in economically dead areas of detroit.
but instead of talking about robust public transit, he tells a dark anecdote about there being plenty of parking in economically dead areas of detroit.
siebert says the waiting list for monthly garage permits adds to the perception that there is no parking. danny yoder throws out that the long waiting list for those permits is a sign the price is too low. joan & others laugh anxiously and say that's too hot an issue.
siebert says raising the price of the monthly permits would be "discriminatory" and the low prices make it "inclusive." (most of the monthly permits are purchased in bulk by companies with downtown offices)
"if you make parking free, people won't value parking," siebert says.
"there's always a cost to parking - it's simply whether it's a hidden cost, whether it's a direct consumer cost, it's very much an issue of balance."
"there's always a cost to parking - it's simply whether it's a hidden cost, whether it's a direct consumer cost, it's very much an issue of balance."
leaving the chat open to rory is actually a public good
jake mooney says he lives 3 miles from downtown. taking the bus downtown takes longer than riding his bike. lack of bus routes & too much time between buses discourages people from considering the bus as a valid way to get downtown.
on to public comment. @RoryStolzenberg has a comment. "we're rehashing a lot of things" that were covered in the 2015 parking study that the city paid a LOT of money for!
"the study was very clear that there is an abundant supply of street parking downtown."
"the study was very clear that there is an abundant supply of street parking downtown."
the 2015 parking study recommended metered parking for the highly desirable street spots closest to the downtown shops - incentivizing people parking for longer periods of time to park in the garage, leaving those street spots for people running quick errands.
rory emphasizes several times that members of the parking advisory committee should read the 2015 parking study - it sounds like that document would answer a lot of the questions (& challenge the anecdote-based beliefs) they keep discussing
the goal of public parking SHOULD NOT BE REVENUE, rory says. raising prices on monthly permits isn't about revenue maximization but about balancing demand.
rory also reiterates his request for SOME answer, any answer, on what the parking enterprise fund IS FOR. there's millions of dollars sitting in there and no clear information on what the money is supposed to be for.
joan fenton calls the $135/mo businesses pay for a monthly parking permit for each employee they buy a permit for "an extra tax" that businesses pay. (choosing to offer a benefit to your employees is not a tax)
gonna go ahead and say rick siebert doesn't know what the word equity means because having to be on a waiting list for a parking permit is not "an issue of equity."
oh wow it isn't fair to "less wealthy businesses."
(i'm losing my mind)
(i'm losing my mind)
"there really isn't a lot of available parking further out," rick siebert says, contradicting rory's assertion that many commuters park up monticello and just walk downtown.
THERE. IS. ENOUGH. PARKING. we are debating about how people FEEL about the parking more than anything else. we're about to spend fifteen MILLION dollars to build a new parking garage because of how people FEEL.
i can't handle how stupid this all is.
i can't handle how stupid this all is.
with no further public comment ( @seantubbs and i are the only other 2 members of the public on the call), the meeting is adjourned.
