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Paso Robles City Council betrays its citizens

November 29, 2023

OPINION by JAN ALBIN

Last week, the Paso Robles City Council heard from dozens of citizens and business owners about how the downtown Parking Program has negatively impacted them, their business and the community as a whole.

People spoke with clarity and passion about their personal experiences. One of the downtown volunteers spoke about spending most of her time trying to help people understand how the program works, helping with the kiosks and warding off the ticket monster.

Two councilmen, Fred Strong and Chris Bausch gave good arguments for terminating the program. Both of them citing the enormous amounts of emails and comments from their constituents, asking for the program to go away.

New Councilwoman Sharon Roden came up with lame-ass reasons for the financial failure of the program and offered up solutions that included getting rid of the free hours. She came off as haughty. Not a good beginning.

It seems as though she has determined that it’s her responsibility to make money for the city rather than consider what’s in the best interest of the people.

Steve Gregory, entrenched and entitled politician that he is, vowed to keep the program no matter what the people wanted.

John Hamon also took the same politician’s way out because, as the leader of this band of do-nothings, he could not see his way clear to guide the council to a Plan B or get rid of the program in its entirety.

Oh whoops! My bad. They did come up with Plan B.

Here it is:

●  Get rid of the free hours and start charging from minute one.

●  Have new signs made at a cost of $36,000 – again.

●  Work on the kiosks to make sure they work properly, because they don’t.

●  Raise the number of senior permits available. That was easy…it’s revenue!

The vote was 2-3, Strong and Bausch against, and Hamon, Gregory and Roden for not only keeping the program but making it even more distasteful than it already is. If that’s possible!

So what have we learned from this latest council smack-down?

●  We’ve learned that what the citizens of this community want – does not mean squat!

●  We’ve learned that what the downtown businesses want – does not mean squat!

●  We’ve learned that we have members of the City Council who don’t give a rat’s patootie about the people, the businesses or the future of our downtown.

●  We’ve learned that no matter what we present as proof of a failed program, this council has its own agenda and they will do what they want, when they want and we can all go pound sand.

In five years, I have never advocated for boycotting the downtown. And I won’t do that now. Our friends and neighbors own those businesses.

Everyone who was there last week understood by the demeanor of Gregory, Hamon and Roden, that listening to the speakers was a waste of their time. Their decision was already made.

I will personally never step foot in any business Steve Gregory has an interest in, retail or commercial.

I will recommend that those who need a new garage door or an adjustment on theirs, call another company other than Hamon Overhead.

Not much I can do against Ms. Roden as she’s a farmer/pistachio grower. But I will call her out when I can and refuse to ever eat another pistachio.

Next year, when Gregory and Roden come up for reelection, I will do all that I can to make sure they never serve another term on this council.

Hamon is on until 2026. Can’t get rid of him as quickly.

I will forever remind council that when this program was presented, it was not to be used as a source of revenue. It was to solve a problem. They threw that out the window last week.

So there you have it folks. Last week they confirmed what so many of us know and have been battling against for years.

Your Paso Robles City Council has a Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

The only cure is to make sure next November that they seek treatment in a land far, far away.

Jan Albin is a Paso Robles resident and a strong advocate for the community.


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Paso has being taking advantage of its citizens since the 90’s when the WCA got a strong foothold on this town. Even though 90 percent of the WCA don’t live within the city limits. Preventing housing from being built, while issuing any winery or brewer a free pass with the excuse of water for not allowing housing. In 2012 they put a road repair city wide tax up for vote, then added side fine print to the law that they can use the funds as see’s fit. Only wealthy neighborhoods get road work while the rest of the town is like a 3rd world country with roads dilapidating daily to the point of disrepair. They went against the advisory board and allowed STR’s in a housing shortage. Promised to be a maximum of 325 STR’s capped at that number. Today we sit at 392 STR’s. After California started forcing city’s (via law suits) to build housing, Paso Robles has filled that quota by only building luxury and high turn over retirement homes in age restricted comminutes. This last election Steven Martin knew his illness was grave. Ran for Mayor any ways in a very quiet campaign knowing Hamon would be put in and now Hamon got to appoint Roden. The Good Ol’ Boys win again. This whole parking issue has pushed downtown visitors to park in outlying neighborhoods which made for a bad situation for locals. Neighbor vs Neighbor for parking handicapped elderly having to walk distances to get home from there car. A law is in the books they were supposed to implement residential parking pass program but they refuse to even bring it up.


17

Sadly, the city council has proven they don’t care what the residents of Paso Robles want. I have personally sent letters to them and got nothing but rude, dismissive answers. Our downtown is family unfriendly and caters to booze. There is nothing for kids to do and their park is surrounded by adult bars and high priced stores and restaurants. Meanwhile, our streets are still in abominable shape. What happened to that money???

They can’t even get correct times on their banners! Spring St banner says parade on December 2 is at 7. Banner in the park says 6.

Oh yeah, I forgot, we don’t care about Paso citizens. Only wino tourists. :(


16

This is a typical Government procedure to implement a program that costs more to run than they take in and they say it will help everyone. There is not one thing that the Government doesn’t tax or have a fee on and they still want more and always will


31

Yet we continue to elect/re elect these folks repeatedly. Nothing will change in Paso, SLO County, California or the US until voters pay attention.,


32

Having to pay a couple of dollars for parking really makes some people lose their minds.


I’ll review the basics:

– Parking isn’t free, if people who park don’t pay for it, taxpayers and businesses do. Advocating for fully free parking is asking for government welfare.

– By adding a very negligible cost to staying downtown, you encourage people to travel together, employees to park further and to leave when their business is concluded, freeing up more spaces for new visitors. You reduce congestion and create flow which is good for businesses.

– 10 people in opposition at a city council meeting does not represent the will of community. Democracy happens every 2-4 years to elect responsible representatives who sometimes make decisions that aren’t universally popular. I don’t believe that listening to a dozen people with the time to show up to the meeting is democracy, it’s rule by special interest.


-52

Why isn’t parking free? Many government taxes, including those specifically charged to businesses, are meant for, or designed for, road and street maintenance. Why is parking, on an already taxes paid for street, also “taxed”? Businesses add the tax they are charged, to the price of their commodity or service. That means, businesses do not pay taxes on themselves…YOU do.


Parking is not charged in Atascadero, and they seem to do just fine with their shopping and traveling clients.


One could easily argue, that paying for parking is, indeed, not negligible at all. Should a person need a certain item, they are not going to call all their friends and ask “..who wants to go downtown to pick up a green widget” with them? New visitors are also not going to call all their friends, and “..ask who wants to travel 300 miles for a green widget in Paso?”.


They could also ask, “Anybody want to go to WalMart? Parking is free there!” and get a much more positive response.


You say there were 10 citizens against the parking fees at the public meeting. Yet, the article reports DOZENS stood against it. Were you there too? If not, we have to take what the article says, rather than your biased opinion.


3

A thoughtful comment requires a thoughtful reply.


Going in reverse, I said “10” as a random number that doesn’t really matter, because even if the number was 50 it would be an insignificant amount compared to the number of voters who elected the council. When a large group organizes an hour or two of public comment, it isn’t inherently representative of the community, we need to stop saying a council “betrayed it’s citizens” because people who show up are not (always) speaking for a majority of residents. I went back and listened through the meeting. There were 21 speakers, a majority of whom were anti paid parking, but also a few were far more modest with recommendations. I may be bias in that I have different policy opinions than yours, but always remember that I am fact first and do my homework.


Often getting your “green widget” is easier to do on Amazon or Walmart because it’s cheaper and more convenient, but people who come downtown aren’t looking for convenience or the lowest prices (even if there was free parking) they’re there for experiences. I go to Fish Gaucho or We Olive because they’re the best – I was already going to be spending more money than Taco Bell or Vons and so I don’t mind paying for parking because I can’t get those experiences elsewhere.


Road maintenance is far more expensive than people think, but paying for parking is less about infrastructure and more about what I said in my original comment – creating flow, and justifying the high land value that frankly is often wasted on two small trucks, rather than 4 outdoor tables that can support customers and make walking around downtown more pleasant.


-6

I’m sure there are many who would be happy for you to pay for their downtown parking. Well, we also have to think about the infrastructure to uphold paid parking: kiosks, human enforcement, administrative costs – I would bet it hasn’t paid for itself yet and may never. It’s another vicious tax-spend cycle that doesn’t need to exist. I will say it has provided a bit of comedy relief watching the unaccustomed try to figure out how to make it work. Good stories for when they get home I guess…


0

First – I’m sure there are many who would love to have others pay for their parking, but I still call that freeloading and being a bum, is that no longer the term?

Second – the kiosks are incredibly easy to use, do you know your license plate? Good, enter it, enter how long you’re staying, put in card, receipt or no receipt? Easy.


-2

wait, conservatives enjoy taking money from constituents too? No Way! John Hammon is a tool, so is Steve? wait what! the shock!


-20

Tin City will eclipse downtown as the “it” place to go


16

If we get honest, the cost of admin. for these parking meters, there is isn’t a whole lot for the city after all is said and done.


Somebody crunch the numbers and see.


40

This is great news for Atascadero! Between the criminal parking fees in SLO, and now with Paso as their accomplices, Atascadero stands to gain those who wish to avoid the costly parking mess. As if Californians don’t spend more on living than most of the country (SLO County within the worst of it), SLO and Paso seem determined to put local business out of business, frustrate their citizens, and ultimately squash their local economies. Atascadero has a chance to stand out and for their community and its businesses. Let’s hope Atascadero doesn’t follow these bad examples and force us to drive to Salinas, Fresno or Bakersfield to shop in protest. Come to think of it, maybe the cost of recall ballots would be cheaper in the long run…


66

Makes perfect sense. Spend $10 in gas and wear and tear on the car to save a $2 fee.


-22

“in protest”


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