Parking permit plan makes sense
Hollister council members appear headed on the right track by
moving ahead on a change to downtown parking enforcement that would
allow for issuance of permits to employees and residents in the
neighborhood, and city leaders should continue to examine the
program through its first year of reinstatement to find other
improvements and to ensure the appropriate dollars are flowing in
to offset costs.
Parking permit plan makes sense
Hollister council members appear headed on the right track by moving ahead on a change to downtown parking enforcement that would allow for issuance of permits to employees and residents in the neighborhood, and city leaders should continue to examine the program through its first year of reinstatement to find other improvements and to ensure the appropriate dollars are flowing in to offset costs.
It has been more than three months since the city re-implemented parking enforcement downtown after six years without it. A slate of recommendations from the temporary police officer handling the enforcement at the outset offered council members an opportunity to analyze what has worked and what hasn’t worked to this point. Council members wisely followed up by expressing support for the permit issuance and directing staff to come back with final provisions.
The move would solve one of the primary concerns from some downtown merchants – other business’ employees using up too many parking spaces near their shops, and causing customers to walk farther than necessary.
Permits offer a clear incentive for the employees and residents to keep their vehicles parked off downtown streets for long periods during prime shopping hours. And if employees and residents are parked in the lots, it should guarantee plenty of available spaces would be available for shoppers close enough to just about any business in the district.
While the Briggs Building at Fourth and San Benito streets already should suffice for most downtown employees, it certainly shouldn’t be unreasonable for those workers to find an applicable city parking lot within relatively short distance of their workplaces.
Avoiding a likely ticket or two while playing the musical car game – finding a new parking spot when the limits are up each couple of hours – should provide enough motive for maximum use of the lots.
Now that those street spaces nearest to local merchants should be available exclusively, for the most part, to downtown shoppers, it should allow the police department and Hollister officials a more vivid picture of the parking enforcement program and what effect it has on shopping habits and city coffers.
