One Last Downtown Parking Meeting Before Pay Stations Open for Business
A gleaming autumn crop of parking pay stations is springing to life throughout downtown Tacoma. They are already here, but you still have an opportunity to shape their future. There is one more public meeting of the parking advisory group before the stations become operational on September 20th.
The 12-member panel will meet tomorrow (September 2) in the Pantages Theater at 5:00pm. This group of local business leaders and citizens has met monthly for the past year, with proceedings open to the public.
For more information on the parking pay stations, visit the Downtown Parking website here. For maps, background information and other details, visit the City of Tacoma page related to parking here.
DETAILS
Parking Pay Station Public Meeting
When: Thursday, September 2, 2010 – 5:00pm
Where: Pantages Theater (S. 9th St. and Broadway)
Filed under: General
32 comments
T Thorax O'Tool September 2, 2010
Why bother?
City council, the Mayor and City Manager have proven repeatedly that they don’t give a rip about what the 200,000 other people in town think.
C crenshaw sepulveda September 2, 2010
I’m with Thorax, this meeting is nothing but eye wash. Like most government proceedings they claim to want public input but the decisions rarely, if ever, are made on the basis of public input.
W Weyland Duir September 2, 2010
Since the new signage has gone up and the stations are in place, what is the purpose of asking for further public feedback? I believe that feedback has been fairly consistent all along. Despite that the program went forward. It gets better. After 20 September, any citizen wishing to speak against this to the Council, will have to pay to park in order to do so.
R RR Anderson September 2, 2010
remove the ding dang gaul darned bloody 2hr parking limits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU MANIACS!!!!!!!!!!!
D DavidS September 2, 2010
To be perfectly blunt, the stakeholder task force has made recommendations to the CM based on public comment offered at one of the prior five public feedback sessions. (See: ending paystations at 6PM vs. 8PM; physical locations of paystations and meters; not adding time limits outside of the paystation where none exist; etc.) These recommendations extend far beyond just a yes or no to paystations. Just because a decision was made inconsistent with one comment does not mean it was not heard and considered.
Downtown stakeholders met for two years discussing even if there should be paid on-street parking before recommending the change to City Council in 2009. To say nobody is listening is a bit of a stretch. A quick glance at the website full of downtown stakeholder created information can verify this.
(btw: I’m so glad they finally got rid of all those absurd 15, 30, & 60 minute zones.)
T Thorax O'Tool September 2, 2010
Again, if one is willing to pay for it, why limit them to two hours?
Eh. I’ll be not parking in downtown if I can avoid it. Guess that’s exactly what the city council wants.
Go figure.
D dolly varden September 2, 2010
Or you could just park north of 7th (if I have the boundary right) and walk two blocks (pant, pant). Pay stations might be good for places on the periphery of the pay zone like Amocat and Maxwell’s.
T Tacoma Joe September 3, 2010
@DavidS
Yeah, and who makes up the “stakeholders”? Hand-selected by the City Manager to return the result he desires. How many times have we heard exactly what you just wrote: “Why, we’ve been studying this for over two years, so your input isn’t much good now.” The people parking, using the paystations and PAYING were not considered “stakeholders” and I know for a fact that more than just “one comment” was offered to the contrary of what was decided.
J Jesse September 3, 2010
Hopefully this is the first step toward market based parking and therefore the elimination of the parking stall requirements downtown. That stops much growth and causes the destruction of lesser valued buildings to be replaced by surface level parking lots.
T Tacoma Moe September 3, 2010
I stopped by the meeting. Four people came by to ask questions and give comment. One wondered where the lawyers in her firm were going to park. Another said he chain parks now and doesn’t want to pay. Someone asked about the area around 6th and fawcett. Ultimatly two spoke in favor of it and nobody was angrily opposed.
Two city council members were there to hear the testimony and offered a few comments themselves.
J J. Cote' September 3, 2010
I haven’t seen this question yet… what about handicapped parking?? How many stalls per block? Will they be a reasonable distance to avoid hills, intersections, etc.
Whatever happened to those two extra enforcement officers for the North End/Westgate area that were PROMISED in lieu of volunteer enforcement officers? I’ve NEVER seen them, yet continue to see scofflaws illegally parking.
As usual, promises made and NEVER kept.
BTW: Lawyers should be directed to park UNDER the street ;-)
D DavidS September 3, 2010
@10
The two years of stakeholder meetings in 2008 and 2009 were advertised and open to whomever showed up for however many meetings they showed up for. This included people from Stadium to the Tacoma Dome and even some beyond. It was this group of about 40 people (attendance was around 30-50 at each meeting) that laid the foundation for paid on-street parking and the stakeholder group that now meets.
The task force that now works on parking includes people who have very different views on how parts of the system should function – about half of whom were involved in the previous group – but all of whom have agreed to abide by the principles of the prior group. In my experience, the members of the task force have been very open and forthcoming in responding to any questions and concerns presented.
C Christine September 3, 2010
Another thing that gets me about the two-hour limit that is silly: My legs work fine, I like to walk.
I generally park once downtown then walk to all my chosen destinations. If it’s really far, I use the link. A typical trip would be 1)Park around 9th & Fawcett, hit Amocat, maybe one of the 8-9th & Pacific restaurants. 2)Hop on the link to the Union station stop. South Sound Running, BKB, The University Bookstore maybe. Cruise by the Harmon for a beverage. 3)Leisurely walk back to the link station, ride to Commerce stop, go to car and go home. This is a 4 to 5 hour day, utilizing one parking space. But the city wants me to move my car two intersections every two hours? Retarded.
D DavidS September 3, 2010
@7/15 re: Chain Parking
At last night’s meeting, there was a discussion about the various citations going before City Council. As I understand it the fine will still be $50 and the City will continue to do license plate tracking, but the definition may change:
Today: It is illegal to repark a car within three blocks (the block you start on plus two more) after the time limit has run out.
Changes proposed by the Task Force & before Council: It would be illegal to repark a car on the same curb face after the time limit has run out. (same side of a street between two cross streets) This means if there are other open spots across the street or around the corner, someone can move there and pay again but you can’t return to the same curb face.
Can’t find that in the FAQs thoughs.
M Mortey September 3, 2010
The 2 hour parking is a huge improvement from the 30 minute parking previously allowed in front of my office. I’m jumping up and down.75 for 2hrs is a great deal and now clients visiting the building have time for lunch or an actual meeting. 2 hr limit makes sense otherwise lazy employees of my neighbors camp all day in front of my door blocking paying clients. I ‘ve dealt with it before….longer parking times are terrible for biz.
Z Zack W September 5, 2010
It’s going to be a difficult adjustment but one i think that in the long run will help create a more vibrant downtown. Now if we could do something about all these ugly parking garages downtown (Park plaza north, the one at 13/pacific, 12 & A)
C crenshaw sepulveda September 5, 2010
Paid street parking will make downtown Tacoma more vibrant? How will it do that? I am intrigued.
E Erik B. September 6, 2010
This means if there are other open spots across the street or around the corner, someone can move there and pay again but you can’t return to the same curb face.
Good idea. Now once someone gets in the dreaded system, they have to run out of downtown or face a ticket from the un needed infraction of “chain parking.”
T Tacoma Fan September 7, 2010
EB.. OR they could park in one of the vast array of off-street surface lots if they plan on being more than two hours.
Maybe we need to get rid of the wasteful surface lots then there will be a need to extend or remove the two hour limits.
BTW…
What did people do when everything was 15/30/60 min? You make it sound like eveything was fully unrestricted and free before, when you know the reality is it was opressively short times combined with NO option to rotate in the system.
I for one am very happy with time limits until the off-street garages agree to be part of the parking solutions rather than part of the parking problem through their pricing. (I’m looking at you Sparkpark, Park Plaza South, North and “A” street)
R RR Anderson September 7, 2010
Destroy all surface parking lots. Remove the 2hr time limit. Let’s start making some money, broke-ass City of Tacoma.
Y You're Welcome September 7, 2010
Since I can’t change what’s coming, I’m trying my best to be positive and hope it doesn’t affect my customers.
I just wish they started the pay parking around the courthouse.
A Altered Chords September 7, 2010
1) Park downtown.
2) Ignore pay to park.
3) get ticket
4) throw ticket away without paying
5) repeat 50 times.
6) earn skofflaw status.
7) buy Altered Chords “I am a Tacoma parking skofflaw” T-Shirt.
8) Ignore arrest warrant when it arrives in the mail.
9) get arrested and go to overcrowded jail.
10) when looking out of narrow jail cell window, observe new jail being constructed with funds obtained through parking meters.
D DavidS September 7, 2010
Regarding questions of time limts, pricing and ultimately occupancy, it is important to remember that increasing time limits and decreasing pricing will have the same impact to occupancy – occupancies will rise and parking will become scarcer.
This means as time limits are extended, occupancies will increase (which can already be seen in areas with new 2-hr parking) which will drive prices higher if the City sticks to its goal of 15% on-street vacancies. Conversely, if prices are dropped because occupancies are too low, occupancies will increase. Either of these tools could be used to increase occupancies.
The 2-hour time limit artificially reduces the price while accommodating the needs of the vast majority of customers (who typically stay ~90minutes). This is also true of SF’s $23M planned system upgrade which limits time to 4-hours in the most in-demand areas as well as virtually ever other major urban area.
Since signs are installed I don’t see it happening, but if the City were to remove time limits today at $0.75/hr anyone who currently pays monthly rates for long-term parking would be encouraged to immediately end that lease and move on-street due to the pricing difference and a la carte availability. This would of course force on-street rates significantly higher to the point they would compete with garage rates since on-street would be more convenient to most businesses. This is certainly one way to ensure solvency of the on-street parking system.
R RR Anderson September 7, 2010
“City were to remove time limits today at $0.75/hr anyone who currently pays monthly rates for long-term parking would be encouraged to immediately end that lease and move on-street”
Right, so go with 4hr limit and increase the cost a tiny bit. Maybe making surface parking no longer a profitable business to be is isn’t such a bad thing for the city of destiny no?
C crenshaw sepulveda September 8, 2010
First two hours @ .75. After 2 hours say a buck or a buck and a half an hour.
T Tim Smith September 8, 2010
But another business (the infamous NWDC) was given an exemption from parking requirements. On a work day the area is jammed with cars creating a safety hazard for emergency vehicles trying to respond to the frequent calls for service. Sorry, I just had to point out how some are coddled and other are hampered.
R RR Anderson September 8, 2010
This is completely INSANE!
TacomaMama Speaks:
Part 1
“Did you know that if you wanted to open a skating rink in Tacoma, you would have to secure 6 parking spaces per every 1000 square feet of floor area? For a typical skating rink of 18,000 square feet, that’s 108 parking spaces.
How many parking lots in Tacoma do you think actually consist of that many parking spaces, outside of a grocery store or the mall? How many people actually drive themselves (and only themselves) to a skating rink? Is this a really hot singles activity?
It’s even worse for restaurants. Eating and drinking establishments must have 10 parking spaces for every 1000 square feet of floor area. How many hole in the wall 2000 square foot restaurants do you see (in Tacoma, outside of downtown at happy hour or 6th ave in the evenings – these areas – the areas that are actually the busiest – are exempt anyway) with 20 people eating at any given time, and how likely is it that each of those 20 people drove their own individual cars?
It’s great that Tacoma has made some progress on this by exempting mixed use centers, but it’s long past time to take a look at the whole parking code and question any and all studies that tell you that you actually need all this parking. When we asked about it at the city, we were told that parking studies would actually show that these numbers were warranted. Well, I question where these studies were done, what the population density/demographics/walkability factors were there and under what economic conditions were they conducted?
Tacoma is not a suburb connected only by a loose network of big multilane streets with no sidewalks, consisting of strip malls and cul de sacs. And thank god for that! So let’s stop planning our parking like that’s what we are and let some businesses open up. “
Part 2
“…but I also wanted to say, if you are looking to open up a business in Tacoma and you are getting this parking parking parking thing from the city, don’t give up. If you dig, there are a lot of loopholes and creative solutions. We actually ended up leasing 40 something night time parking spaces from our neighbor across the street for a couple of bucks because we know we’ll never need to use them.
Being close enough to a bus stop will reduce your parking requirement. Being close enough to a bus route that runs frequently will reduce it even more. Putting in bicycle spaces will also reduce it.
Don’t take the first answer you get, keep asking questions, and be persistent. It’s still easier than trying to open up in Lakewood where you have to get sewer and engineering approval and whatnot, or other parts of Pierce County where you have to draw up an impact plan.”
R RR Anderson September 8, 2010
Thanks Dave S! Maybe Captiveyak can write something up…
C captiveyak September 8, 2010
Why’s everyone always making more work for me? I do have a stamp collection, origami club and Morrissey Fan Club to tend to!!!
R RR Anderson September 8, 2010
when people think of ‘tacoma parking crisis’ they need to think of these pro-auto regulations from the gas-guzzling 1960’s
T Tacoma fan September 8, 2010
@ Tim Smith
Can you show links to support your claim?
1) How did they gain an exemption? How much was exempted? Who pushed for the exemption?
2)They have frequent calls for service? How many do they have and what types?
If they have life safety issues created by parking then the streets should be restricted to allow emergency response only.
R RR Anderson September 8, 2010
Tacoma Fan, Clear Channel proves that any corporation with deep pockets can get whatever they want, whenever they want from the city if Eric Anderson can put the fear of god in your Tacoma City Council Representative.