Chamber Supports Task Force Recommendations and Urges Council to Implement Them – Representing the Davis Chamber in an op-ed, Executive Director Kemble Pope, along with Chamber Chair Gregg Herrington who is also president of the Yackzan Group, and Don Palm, secretary of the Chamber board and dean of the Davis campus of Sacramento City College, lay out a scenario where visitors to the downtown are welcomed and have a positive experience.
They write, “All of these visitors, utilizing various modes of transportation and with different goals for their visit, felt welcomed, experienced satisfaction with their entire visit and later told their friends and family what a joy it is to work, shop, dine and be entertained in downtown Davis.”
But then they ask, “Does that scenario sound improbable?” They answer their own question, “In 2013, we admit it is unlikely. But can we all agree that it is a worthwhile vision for 2014 and beyond, after implementation of the Downtown Parking Task Force recommendations?”
Every day it seems that thousands of people make their way to the Davis Downtown and, while there are the normal headaches over traffic congestion and finding parking, is it really the view of most people that the experience that most people have is a negative one?
On the other hand, those that have read these pages long enough know that no one is completely satisfied with the downtown situation.
The Chamber representatives continue: “It’s important to note what the vision described above does not assume. It does not assume that each visitor arrived in an automobile, parked their car on the same block as their final destination or used free parking. Do you get frustrated if you drive into downtown and can’t find a parking space on the block adjacent to your destination? Annoyed that you have to pay to park for longer than three hours?”
They add, “We are the first to admit that change is difficult, but perhaps it is time to recalibrate our personal expectations.”
They continue, “Our community has changed and evolved in the past 25 years. In order to maintain and character and improve the quality of downtown, it is important that we re-examine our assumptions and acknowledge the changes in utilization of downtown Davis.”
The op-ed notes the history where “the first major investment in downtown parking supply was made in 1989. So, when discussing solutions for our current downtown parking problem (we all agree there is a problem, right?), it is important to note how our community has changed from 1987 to 2012.”
They note, “Since 1987, several high-profile redevelopment projects in the downtown – among them Central Park/Farmers Market, Crepeville Building, Fifth & G Plaza (USDA), The Lofts, Bistro 33/Historic City Hall, McCormick Building, Roe Building, Chen Building and the Pence Gallery – have increased the density of residential and commercial use in downtown while also making downtown shopping, dining and entertainment more appealing to residents and visitors.”
They then cite statistics to show that Davis has changed since 1987. First, population has increased from 43,000 to 66,000. UCD campus resident population has increased from 5000 to 7400. Staff and faculty have increased from 12,236 to 21,983. Student enrollment has gone from 20,858 to 33,300.
While many of those changes have been from 48 to 80 percent increases, they note there has only been a 36 percent increase in total office space and a 25 percent increase in the number of parking spaces.
They write, “The City Council appointed a Downtown Parking Task Force to identify short-, mid- and long-term actions to address parking management and supply. We commend their dedication and thorough work. The task force’s draft 19 high-level recommendations are a consensus solution, and if implemented as a complete package, would bring about major changes to the duration of parking, the availability of parking and the cost of parking.”
“With limited supply and increasing demand, paying for some parking is inevitable, but who pays, how we pay, where we pay to park and what we do with that money is still very much debatable.”
They add, “Assuming these parking changes result, as we hope they do, in greater use of downtown Davis, it’s essential that the City Council give serious consideration to how to best accommodate increased parking utilization as well as increasing parking capacity.”
The Chamber “believes that any changes, now and in the future, to parking in the downtown” should reflect several core values.
First, “Be welcoming, which is to say not discourage residents and visitors from visiting our downtown and its establishments, for whatever length of time desired.”
Second, “Be flexible in order to accommodate the various needs and uses of business owners, residents, visitors and employees.”
Third, “Be simple and convenient to use and understand.” And finally, “Improve the ease with which downtown visitors and employees are able to find a parking spot.”
The Chamber notes, “On Wednesday, Oct. 2, the Downtown Parking Task Force will review and approve the Downtown Parking Management Plan. As soon as that plan is finalized, we urge the City Council to take immediate action to adopt the entire package of consensus solutions.”
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Has this been considered for Davis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=pcZSU40RBrg
Looks pretty quaint to me.
As a member of the Downtown Parking Task Force it was very gratifying to me to read this Op-Ed yesterday. The authors have created a helpful, context-rich narrative about the challenges related to parking in the downtown. It helps frame a solid rationale for the recommendations coming out the Task Force. I was especially appreciative of this point:
[quote]The task force’s draft 19 high-level recommendations are a consensus solution, and if implemented as a complete package, would bring about major changes to the duration of parking, the availability of parking and the cost of parking.[/quote]
The “complete package” is key here.
When will the recommendations be available? Is there a draft floating around?
The recommendations are all listed in the meeting packets on the City of Davis Downtown Parking Task Force webpage.
-Michael Bisch
it would be interesting now that it’s over to get robb’s perspective on the process.
DP… Why? Say more about why it would be interesting… (you are talking about me right Robb with 2 bb’s)
I am quite skeptical that the task force is heavily influenced by downtown business interests and it appears to me that they are asking their shoppers to subsidize their businesses by paying for parking, when the simple and obvious solution is to get their own employees to stop taking prime parking spots in the core area.
If they want me to spend my money in their shops and restaurants, then they ought to be doing everything they can to make it as easy as possible to park my car or bike right outside their front door. Most of the banks and professional services have ample customer parking which I would guess is because the recognize the importance of great customer service as a way to attract and keep customers/clients.
Making everyone pay as a way to force the employees and owners to vacate the prime core parking spots is just wrong. I already go out of my way to pay more to shop local. The least the shop owners could do is to force their employees to park and walk a few blocks to make it easy for me. I already pay high property tax to finance the roads and existing parking and hate the thought of parking meters or pay stations popping up on every block.
The best solutions are usually the simple ones. In this case, just ban employee on-street parking in the core area.