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SLO City Council votes to remove multiple parking spaces

September 5, 2018

SLO City Council standing near bike rack outside City Hall: Andy Pease, Heidi Harmon, Dan Rivorie, Carlyn Christianson and Aaron Gomez.

Correction: SLO City Council voted to take away one side of Broad Street on Tuesday, not both sides of the street. In the staff report, the city stated option C, which the city council voted for, included both sides of the street. However, Councilman Dan Rivorie noted the vote did not include 33 parking spaces.

To the dismay of some local residents, the San Luis Obispo City Council endorsed a plan Tuesday night to replace dozens of on-street parking spaces with bike lanes reducing parking for area residents. [Cal Coast Times]

In 1983, mayoral candidate Keith Gurnee built a home on a small lot on Broad Street with a creek running through the center of the property. At that time, the city provided Gurnee a variance allowing him not to have a garage or a driveway based on the availability of on-street parking.

Because of the council’s decision to remove all on-street parking from three block on Broad Street, Gurnee is left with reduced parking on his block.

“It is an action to deliberately devalue a neighborhood,” Gurnee said. “Plus my wife is disabled. She has a handicap plaquer, she is not going to be able to hike in from two blocks away with the groceries.

“Because of the impacts on my children visiting, my disabled wife, and the valuation of my property, I may have no choice but to consider litigation.”

In April, the San Luis Obispo council adopted the Anholm Bikeway Plan for the Anholm neighborhood located between Highway 101 and Foothill Boulevard. At the time, because of vocal opposition to the proposed bicycle boulevards, the council approved a plan that consisted of traffic calming and diversion measures, rather than the removal of parking spaces to create bike lanes.

However, bicycle advocates argued the initial plan did not sufficiently address bicycle safety issues in the neighborhood, and the council agreed to reconsider the matter.

On Tuesday, the council was presented with options including traffic diversion, traffic calming and the removal of parking spaces to create Class IV bike lanes. The council voted 3-2 in favor of the removal of on-street parking on one side of Chorro Street from Lincoln to Mission streets, as well as the removal of parking on one side of Broad Street from Mission Street to Ramona Drive.

Mayor Heidi Harmon and council members Dan Rivorie and Aaron Gomez voted in favor of the bikeway plan. Council members Andy Pease and Carlyn Christianson dissented.

The removal of parking spaces will make room for two-way bike lanes.

Critics say the plan will reduce property values and force some residents who do not have driveways to park on streets other than the ones on which they live.

SLO’s efforts to significantly boost the amount of bicycle traffic in the city have become a contentious campaign issue, with Mayor Heidi Harmon supporting the bike lane plans and Gurnee opposing them.


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So if there’s going to be a bike lane where parking spots are in an attempt to make it safer for bicyclists, and everyone puts their trash cans in the parking spots on trash day so they don’t block the sidewalk, then trash day isn’t going to be a very safe day for bicyclists if their bike lane is blocked. Or we they could just be placed into the middle of the street…


7

Folks,


The corrupt, progressive SLO city council is back at work trying to undermine and ruin what is best about our city, and shame on people like Heidi Harmon and Aaron Gomez, who refuse to listen to the majority of opinion as they force their whacky agenda on the rest of us.


This whacky SLO city council is marred in corruption, and the ‘bike highway’ idea is an attempt to cover up their deals made with out-of-town developers for more high density, low quality development in SLO.  People like Heidi Harmon and Aaron Gomez take campaign donations from the developers, then give them exemptions on building the appropriate infrastructure (like parking) to mitigate their development.


Get it?  While corrupt politicians like Heidi Harmon and Aaron Gomez benefit from this political quid pro quo, San Luis Obispo residents get stuck with bad development, congested traffic, loss of views, parking problems, and a decline in the quality-of-life.  To offset their deal giving their developer friends breaks in return for campaign donations, Harmon and Gomez ‘confiscate’ parking from residents in neighborhoods like the Anhelm District.


In November, it is important to register and vote to remove this cancer from our politics.  Vote to oust Heidi Harmon and Carlyn Christianson, who betray voters and support corruption.  In 2020, we can get rid of the corrupt Aaron Gomez and Andy Pease at that point.  SLO residents deserve better than a corrupt city council who betrays good public policy, disregards fiscal responsibility, ruins the historic downtown district, and seizes parking from our neighborhoods to appease their developer friends.


Vote Keith Gurnee for SLO Mayor.

Vote James Lopez for SLO City Council.

Dump Heidi Harmon.

Dump Carlyn Christianson.


15

Hopefully this little problem is short lived when MR Gurnee gets in as Mayor, this can just be reversed just as easy as it was implemented, with no vote of the people nor public input, just tell staff we are putting parking back where it needs to be,done.


21

There are a couple MAJOR factual inaccuracies in this article. 1) The parking in front of Mr. Gurnee’s house aka “handicap person’s parking” is not being eliminated under this plan. Parking on the opposite side of Broad will be removed for the one way protected cycle lane heading toward downtown. 2) 56 parking spots, not 89 parking spots as this article states, will be removed. Most of which are on Chorro, not Broad. Mr. Gurnee or anyone for that matter does have the ability to apply with the City for the creation of a dedicated handicap parking space to replace dedicated on street parking. Anyone with a handicap placard would be allowed to use this space. It is imperative that news organizations report factual information. I hope that Cal Coast will take the time to correct this misinformation.


-4

Facts? We don’t need no frickin’ facts! This is political gamesmanship here, fraught with lies, misinformation and disinformation to better confuse the voter. I just wonder if Mr. Gurnee isn’t doin’ the same chit here and isn’t any different from those he’s runnin’ against?


-14

Regardless, parking in SLO is a joke as it is and trading 50 whatever spots for bicycle lanes is plain stupidity. Lets go back to the old days and License bikes for say $1500 a year to offset the wasted funds stealing from those who pay auto registration fees & gas tax. Such a phony circle jerk of self righteous of BS in SLO it make me wanna puke.


26

Folks,


Notice we don’t see our corrupt SLO city councilman, Aaron Gomez, calling for the biased left-wing SLO-TT to correct their misinformation, and I guess that corrupt politicians need corrupt media to cover for them.


I have been around for 40 years, and, in comparing  the integrity and truthfulness of the SLO TT versus the Cal Coast News, the CCN’s runs circles around the failing SLO TT, which protects the corrupt leftists politicians as they trade developer cash for OUR quality-of-life.  


People like Aaron Gomez and Heidi Harmon should be locked up.


George


7

Over 15% of Lynn Compton’s campaign donations have come from outside of SLO County and some 36% came from outside the South County District. She has taken money from an L.A. based real estate developers PAC (CREPAC), Shea Homes out of Scottsdale, AZ (builders of high end homes), and others from Marina Del Rey, Sacramento, Westlake Village, etc. (you should also know that those I’ve mentioned are her largest donators outside of the RNC). Shouldn’t she also be “locked up” as a “corrupt politician” in your vague ass world?

The “lock ’em up” bullshit is old and tiresome George, really it is! It shows me that your intolerance towards those who are outside of the Party of Trump is as insane as it’s originator, and, just as dangerous to our political process. You don’t lock folks up with an oppossional political belief, you lock ’em up for proven criminal activities!

Prove your allegations of corruption and or criminal behavior or be relegated to the same irrelevancy that the Party of Trump is going to find themselves in very soon here.


0

Thank you for insisting upon factual accuracy. Facts appear to be a bit of an afterthought among the Cal Coast posse.


1

“the Cal Coast posse.” There is a posse? Who are you referring to?



I would be more concerned that after the meeting staff was not even sure what plan details had been approved.


1

Certainly there has been a taking from what was approved by the city. Why don’t the bikes just share the road as the vehicle code allows? Which street will be nex, Higuera or Marsh?


35

Additionally, the compensation should come from the Cities Executive Welfare Fund.


20

This is just plain wrong, there should be no way that the city could do this.


33

for the biking mayor


21

This could prove to be very interesting. Most city governments have two ways to identify the boundaries for private properties. Most people assume that their property ends at or near the sidewalks in front of their home where there is usually a certified property corner. These boundary markers are usually used to determine the nature of the property related to zoning issues, property uses etc.. But then at the same time some Title Companies will say that the properties actually go to the center of the street and are used by the cities via a long term easement agreement. This is usually substantiated when there is damage to the sidewalk, curb gutter & sidewalk and landscape areas where the city will require the property owner to maintain or even repair them. So SLO what is it?


35

Not sure what clarifying the property boundary would have to do with what the city is doing within their (possible) easement.


-6

You got it-clarification? Would be interesting what the verbage is for the easement.


3

The Progressive Values of Bikes over People is on Display.

But don’t worry, you can sleep in a tent in one of the SLO Homeless parks and get free needles.


35

Just can’t pass up a chance to belittle those you neither understand or care about, huh? Can’t stick to the topic, probably don’t understand it, and then just gotta play the fear card with the homeless, again, bein’ the scapegoats to your total ignorance. No wonder the progressives are gainin’ traction in SLO political world, folks like you Rich just prove their point(s) every time you open up your apathetic ignorant mouth. Good Job, Bucko!


-38

Dont play the boo hoo card there ATF.  Trip on down to Pismo or the SLO Mission and plenty of them are where they are out of choice. Like your handle says, America the Free and that’s how plenty look at it. Progressives are gaining traction, that funny chit there haus. I liken it to mindless idiots on the move that are never satisfied or happy.


10

Check this out Bucko, been there done that! Been on those streets, been to all those places you speak of, was one of those homeless for a short period of time. And yes, part of being a Free American is that you can choose to live any frickin’ way you choose, including on the streets! Those folks that do choose to, are neither mindless, unhappy and are satisfied with their living choices, and that’s what puts a burr under your saddle. The type of “freedom” we choose to live, tied down to either a mortgage or rent, credit cards, a job, a family is not the type of “freedoms” they choose to exercise, some don’t want it while others cannot handle it, and they do the best they can. Those that want off the streets more often than not run into your mindless idiocy, groupin’ all homeless individuals into your “mindless idiots” category and not affording ’em the opportunity to become someone more like you, and that’s the way you, and those like you, want it anyway.

2016 SLO Presidential Voting by Party: Clinton (“Progressives”) 51%, Trump (“Regressives”) 42%, 2012 SLO National Voting by Party: Obama (“Progressives”) 49%, Romney (“Regressives”) 48% – Do ya see the difference there Bucko? 2% climb in “Progressives” while the “Regressives” lost 6%, that’s an 8% flip! I’d say that, combined with the fact that the “Regressives” cannot even find the votes to get the likes of Hill and Gibson out of their seats and cannot stop the likes of Harmon from getting elected as mayor, is proof positive it’s you that’s caught up in some awfully funny delusional chit, pard’!


-18
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