Some downtown business owners unhinge when customers get
tickets. For other merchants, it’s about the wallets of their own
employees slimming down from parking fines.
Some downtown business owners unhinge when customers get tickets. For other merchants, it’s about the wallets of their own employees slimming down from parking fines.
The City Council on Monday adopted an ordinance to curtail the frequency of those annoyances for local businesses. The modification boosts the amount of allowable time from two hours to four hours for parked vehicles in six downtown lots.
That means many downtown customers and employees don’t have to keep such a close watch on their cars – and the swift-footed parking enforcer.
The city is also examining the possibility of obtaining properties to be designated as future parking lots.
One of those plots neighbors the Veterans Memorial Building on the corner of Seventh and San Benito streets, according to City Manager Dale Shaddox. City officials have begun preliminary talks with the owner, PG&E, over a potential purchase of the land.
On the topic of parking restrictions, Council members say they have received many complaints from businesses.
Many merchants must remain on the anxious lookout for the officer, who strolls the downtown district, yellow chalk marker in hand.
One of those businesses, San Benito Glass, has received an unusually high number of tickets lately – even while city-hired construction workers have closed off the street adjacent to the store’s entrance, according to resident Eva Reyna, who spoke during public comment.
In a piecemeal progression, the city has been closing streets to replace trees and sidewalks as part of the Downtown Beautification Project.
“Give the businesses a chance,” Reyna said.
The city has acknowledged ticketing vehicles parked next to closed off streets is undue. Shaddox has informed the Police Department, he said, to “be as lenient as it can” to businesses affected during the beautification construction.
The primary reason to enforce parking downtown, after all, is the intended benefit to businesses, according to Shaddox.
That gain to the business community, he said, is a boost in parking availability for downtown shoppers – the ones spending cash and ultimately paying merchants’ bills.
“That’s the only reason,” Shaddox said, Hollister maintains an enforcer.
Monday’s ordinance does not, however, change the allowed time for vehicles in street parking spots, Shaddox pointed out.
That means many local owners and employees – those who want to avoid getting tickets of $20 or more – still must walk to the closest lot. Those six lots with newly prolonged time limits include parcels on Third, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh and East streets.
One lot that certainly didn’t need its parking restrictions eased was the Briggs Building, on which the city spent millions of dollars a few years back, and which remains largely unused, Shaddox acknowledged.
One downside to the Briggs Building, for some merchants’ employees, Shaddox said, is its location on the far north end of the district.
Still, Shaddox made what he called “an editorial comment,” saying people can park their vehicles – “out of the rain, out of the sun, seven days a week without any restriction at all” – in the Briggs Building.
And that, he said, would leave other parking spaces open for their customers. Mayor Tony Bruscia called the eased parking restrictions “a good compromise.”
In other business:
– The Council approved a contract to have traffic lights installed at the intersection of Meridean Street and Chappell Road.
The $110,000 project, funded by impact fees, will be installed by Signal Electric Construction out of San Jose. The Council appropriated $140,000 – of which $15,000 is designated for “unforeseen construction.”
– The Council approved the purchase of a three-wheeled parking enforcement vehicle for $28,000. Hollister’s parking officer, who will patrol in the vehicle, enforces parking violations and abandoned vehicles.
Councilman Robert Scattini objected to the purchase during the study session, which precedes the regular meeting. He was the lone dissenting vote for its approval.
“With the financial situation the city’s in right now, that’s extremely high,” Scattini told Police Chief Jeff Miller. Scattini mentioned a $264 AM/FM radio as being unnecessary.
Miller defended the purchase, saying the cost, over the vehicle’s life, is not excessive.
“This is her office,” Miller said of the full-time parking enforcer.
– The Council opened the floor for a public hearing on the city’s annual list of properties that need weed abatement; no residents spoke.
The list includes 286 properties. But that number will “whittle down,” according to Fire Chief Bill Garringer, likely to fewer than 20.
Such properties eventually become designated as public nuisances. Once a city-hired contractor removes them, those residents must reimburse the city.
– Scattini pointed out that he’s received many complaints about the construction of the Downtown Beautification Project, which includes installation of red brick pavers and new trees.
Any residents with complaints should call engineer Matt Attebury at 636-4340 or Bill Avera at 636-4386.
Kollin Kosmicki can be reached at 637-5566, ext. 331 or at
kk*******@fr***********.com
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