AgdaPkt 2005-06-06 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

��- ,z9 To deal with the inconvenience that the strict two-hour time limits place on customers, the City offers all-day permits for $15, which can be purchased at City Hall. This works out to $1.66 per hour. Said Diana Diamond of the Daily News, "Who wants to take the trouble to go to City Hall just for a long lunch and some shopping?" Parking on the street is so congested that the city doesn't even conduct occupancy surveys. According to their traffic engineer, there is no point is 100% at practically all times. To relieve this congestion, the City recently built two new garages at convenient locations. The garages created a total of 713 new spaces at a cost of nearly $36.36 million. $51,000 per new space. These garages were paid for by an assessment levied on Downtown property owners and in-lieu parking fees. Recent reports indicated that the garages are not well used, and that occupancy has lagged behind projections. Prime curbside spaces are still completely congested, however. To remedy this, the City is considering a$500,000 signage program. While free parking is nice, it comes at a high cost in Palo Alto. Inconvenience, ticket arixiety, congestion of primes spaces, higher taxes on businesses, and expensive but underused garages are just some of the "prices" that are being paid in order to keep free parking alive. San Mateo San Mateo has a strong Downtown. There are many restaurants and some interesting shops, and also a successful Century cinema with 12 screens. San Mateo's current parking system was implemented in late 2003. All on-street parking is 50 cents per hour and is restricted by a two- hour time limit. Garages cost 50 cents an hour for lower levels (with a two hour limit), and 25 cents per hour for upper levels (with 4 and 10 hour time limits). There are also some peripheral surface parking lots that are free. All parking is free after 6pm and on Sundays. This system seems to work reasonably well. While occupancies seem to be above the desired 85% rate, there are occasionally open spaces on the main streets. During the lunch hour and Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, though, it is very difficult to find a desirable space. It is interesting to note that an article in the Examiner from January 30, 2004 which reported on the new parking system was titled "Free parking, a luxury of better times." However, a better headline might have been "Free parking, a luxury of worse time." The parking prices were the result of increased competition for parking, and the increased competition is a result of increased business in the downtown. That is a good problem to have—far better than having a dead downtown. Burlingame Burlingame has a strong retail downtown. Many desirable national chains have stores there, and there are also many interesting local shops. Burlingame is also endowed with great architecture and good walkable streets. Burlingame also has the closest thing to market-rate pricing on the Peninsula. Curb parking on Burlingame Avenue costs 75 cents per hour, and side streets cost 25 cents per hour. Peripheral paste 23