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Parking rates going up in SLO

June 19, 2015

SLO_City_Emblem_fullcolor_neutralbkgThe San Luis Obispo City Council plans to raise parking rates this summer as construction on new developments will lead to the temporary removal of some spaces in the downtown area. [Tribune]

On Tuesday, the council unanimously endorsed a plan to raise the hourly rates for the three downtown parking structures from 75 cents to $1. Two of the parking structures are located on Palm Street, and one is located on Marsh Street.

The council is slated to give final approval in July, and the increase is expected to take effect in August. The first hour of parking at each structure will remain free of charge.

Over the next year, the city will remove more than 200 metered parking spaces as it closes three frequented lots for construction of the Chinatown and Garden Street Terraces developments. Construction has already begun on the Chinatown project, and some spaces have been removed.

The Chinatown project is located along Monterey Street near Mission Plaza. Garden Street Terraces is situated between Garden and Broad streets and Marsh Street and Garden Alley.

In all, the city is expected to remove 143 spaces for Chinatown construction and 59 spaces for the building of Garden Street Terraces.

The city plans to relocate the credit card meters in the affected lots to downtown streets. Parking at those meters will increase in cost from $1.25 an hour to $1.50.

The rate increases will not affect all downtown meters, but the council could discuss more rate hikes later this year. The city has not raised parking rates since 2009.

Tim Bochum, deputy director of transportation, said raising rates in the structures will offset the revenue lost from closing the parking lots.

The city has long discussed building an additional structure at the corner of Palm and Nipomo streets. The council is supposed to discuss a revised schedule for design and financing of the garage at a meeting later this year.


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As Gomer Pyle would say: “Suprise, Suprise, Suprise!


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Okay, the metered parking downtown is too friggin’ expensive….I think the parking garages are more than reasonable though, and if the people working their get a raise, or the city pockets a couple more bucks, I’m okay with that too.


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Uh, “working there”….


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And exactly how much value do you place on someone sitting in a booth all day doing a job that doesn’t need a person to do?


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Ya know, you’re right Achillesheal……most of those people are probably kind of worthless, huh….


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This is SARCASM for you dim wits out there….


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Downtown SLO can be a charming place, with three well lit, easily accessible parking garages close to downtown. One can spend a few hours at a movie, or dinner, or Farmer’s Market, and expect to pay under $5 (it’s usually under $3) for a day, or an evenings worth of fun. If you hang til really late, you can drive out for free. In Boston, downtown parking was $25 an hour last time I was there. So, is this what 12 people object to, or is it because they don’t want those nice folks who smile at you when you drive out to get a raise. If the city can up the price “a bit” to maintain these nice parking structures, then good.


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Boston and SLO? One has good food, nightlife, arts, events, major attractions. One has … wait for it… college kids.


Guess which is which.


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I, for one would rather live in SLO than beantown…


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Have to pay for Lichtig and Dietrick’s fat, worthless, bloated salaries somehow.


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How about a $5/hr loitering fee for the bums to sit on benches and sidewalks downtown?


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You are taxed for it.


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Ah yes ! The place of the HAPPY !


Next, there will be a charge to breathe the rarified air ( right next to the open BBQ pits ).


Who would have guessed that being an elitist dooshnozzle ( or a wannabe one ) would be so pricey ?


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Slowerfaster, have you not been a big supporter of this Council and their decisions? If my memory is correct, you have stood tall and proud for these folks as we now have higher water, sewer and parking rates. Being a native of SLO, I remember not so many years ago that you could park in downtown for 2 hours/25 cents. I would like to see the revenue vs expense for the parking fund every Five Year Period, that should be interesting.

I am Copeland Enterprise paid the City a reason sum of money when their brought the parking lots and that money (and Garden Street) should have gone into the Parking Fund. Keep voting for all these folks and their sales tax increase as they give employees raises, hire 13 employees to enforce and fine your behavior and plant, tear up, replant, pave and repave and put in those great sidewalks for the business community as a payback for the Chamber supporting the sales tax increase.


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IDK what you’re talking about, in specific. I’m no blind patriot. I call ’em like I see ’em. I try to focus on issues and keep personalities out of it as best I can.


People are funny though. They so often say something and then do the opposite, and do it so transparently.


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Ah ha….so it’s the increased parking rates that will pay for the recent salary increases for the city manager and city attorney…not the water and trash increases…..makes sense.


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Wait What? “Raising rates in the structures will offset the revenue lost from closing the parking lots.” Why would they need to offset the revenue if they no longer have the cost of maintaining those parking spaces?! Interesting how when they say that the new construction will include underground parking to offset the lost spots, they do it in such a way as to imply that there will be no impact on the public, but don’t mention it’ll result in cost increases in public parking spots.


It is a good thing we have such great facilities for coronary medicine in SLO, because my blood pressure keeps going up from this B.S.


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I’m sure the rates will be lowered again when the construction is done….hahahahahahaha


The government never met a new tax it didn’t like and they get used to spending it and will never give it up once they get it.


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Guess you don’t get the city’s “economy of scarcity” :-). Just like with water, where we use less so have to pay more to keep the utility funds flush, with parking we eliminate parking spots for the benefit of the crony capitalists who got ahold of so much of our publicly-owned downtown land at bargain prices never offered to any of the rest of us, and that means less income to the parking funds, thus higher rates on the spaces that remain. It’s SLOsense.


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Thank you SLO city council for giving people one more reason NOT to shop downtown.


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I am a native, born in Foothill area, grew up near the Mission and have not been in the downtown area for at least 3 years. There is nothing downtown that I can’t live without. Use to love Firestone’s but when I found out the Main Street Grill in Cambria (across from the Shell Station) is the same restaurant, I go there – no crime, no homeless, no parking fees, beautiful ocean breeze and great walking area and cheaper sales tax (County only), a win win!


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I have come to LOVE Cambria. The quaint little shops, the lack of vagrants and mean people, vast parking, trees and ocean in the same town.


Paso is not too bad either. Family friendly.


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There’s no reason to GO downtown — unless you want to get drunk on overpriced drinks or shop at one of the mall chainstores brought to us by the Copelands. Most of us long-timers don’t bother to go anymore. The city has killed the place. Now we’ll have about 200 fancy hotel rooms downtown, in tall buildings that block what remains of our views of the mountains, which shows where the city’s head is. Tourists will pay for the parking spaces the rest of us no longer use. Today’s downtown is alien to SLO.


Downtown parking in Paso is free. They actually have a bit of genuineness left, unlike downtown SLO. It’s an actual city’s downtown, not just a tourist trap.


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Part of why I shop at Costco… Ty SLO City Council


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Ha! They’ve still gotcha on the 1/2-percent sales tax. Shop outta town instead. Better yet, mail order out of state.


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I do anything I can not to give California anymore money than I have to. I can waste it as good as them and I get the fun and reward!


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I realize it’s not practical if one lives here, but dreaming of Texas, I say


buy your GAS in Texas, a buck a gallon less

pay your state income tax in Texas, NONE, so 100% less

register your car in Texas, 60 % less

register your pickup truck in Texas, 80% less

replace your shocks and tires less in pot-hole free Texas, lots less

and finally, pay your SFD rural house building permits, school fees,

impact fees, tens of thousands AS IN zero…… 100% less.


In many counties, never more than a half hour from a recreation lake, a Costco and shopping center, and, most importantly, a Sonic burger……


oh yes, shop where employers don’t face EASY long faked worker comp cases, live where burglars aren’t quickly paroled after their tenth conviction strike to hit people again, …. well …. you get my picture. SLOBIRD has it right, it is OFFENSIVE to give so much money to California, just to pay Ogren/Dietrich/Lichtig/DefenderBoat bloated wasteful costs.


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Spot on my friend. Resist legal plunder at every turn.


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If those were the only factors to take into account, I think a lot of us would move to Texas (even though some of your comments are exaggerated — “no potholes”?!) However, there are other factors in play — particularly climate and (for some) more progressive social attitudes.


What results is a variation on economics in which Texas has to offer more economic perks to attract people to its less-than-desirable environment. If they mean that much to you, move.


As for me, I will probably stay in CA until I retire for other reasons and then move to a state that has a more pleasant environment than Texas (if not quite to Central Coast standards) and a better economic/regulatory situation than California (if not quite as good as Texas).


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