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SLO to spend extra $90,000 on new parking signs

October 9, 2011

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

The San Luis Obispo City Council approved a $91,500 increase in the cost of a parking sign replacement project at its October 4 meeting.

City staffers told the council in July that the project would cost $11,000, but Parking Services Manager Robert Horch said Tuesday that $102,500 must now be allocated from the parking fund to complete the work. Horch said that a heavy workload has been tying down the city streets crew, so the task needs to be contracted out to a private firm for a bid within an engineer’s estimate of $82,000.

Despite staff’s mismanagement of the project, a majority of the city council voted to move forward with the suggestion to contract the parking sign replacement.

Mayor Jan Marx said the new proposal confused and frustrated her, but she voted for it anyway.

“We didn’t get good information in the first place, and now I don’t understand what we are approving,” Marx said. “I’m going to say to staff, “Please don’t ever do this again.”

In voting with Marx, Vice Mayor John Ashbaugh also said he would continue to place faith in city staff to do the job correctly.

“Despite that the initial estimate was incorrect, I continue to have confidence that this estimate will be correct,” Ashbaugh said.

Council member Andrew Carter cast the remaining vote of approval, while Council members Dan Carpenter and Kathy Smith dissented.

As part of the project overhaul, the council also decided to delay implementation of Sunday parking fees until early 2012.


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So let me get this straight, my city needs to spend this money because there is no room for Sunday hours on the current signs. And if sunday hours were the same as m-f so we could put off the “required upgrade till 2015? So the downtown churchs have free parking for there religious observances?


Anyone knows how much we spent on the stylish P Posts in the first place?


This from the same city who put a catholic cross on every policemans badge without council approval of the design.


“Phil Gray, San Luis Obispo, Grace Church Parking Committee, spoke of his concern s regarding the proposed parking fee increases and suggested alternative times for enforcement.”

So my city will spend this money and earn less on every sunday to benefit who? by request of grace and the mission?


“Currently these costs are covered by those paying for parking from Monday to Saturday ; essentially subsidizing free Sunday use .”

Why is the plan now that we taxpayers are subsiding a free sunday morning? How is that better than us subsidizing free all day Sunday use? 50% less revenue is better?


“The comparison chart does not include supervision or management costs that may be needed to support the expansion of parking operations which varies with each option .”

Great so we don’t know the added labor and management costs to have parking enforcement operate a short Sunday shift vs a standard shift.


“We didn’t get good information in the first place, and now I don’t understand what we are approving,”

This, a thousand times this.


Sunday is just another day to city government, or it should be.


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