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Editorial
Some parts of town's parking plan fall short
The town of Los Gatos recently unveiled its downtown parking plan and it appears to have a Jeckyll and Hyde personality. On one hand, the town council voted to spend nearly $100,000 to ease parking woes during the holiday season, an expenditure that includes a provision for offering free valet parking for customers. But the plan also calls for boosting fines from $25 to $35 for those who exceed the posted time limits.
Also, the town's parking consultant recommended shortening the maximum parking time around Los Gatos High School from three hours to 90 minutes. This, of course, would not apply to nearby residents who have around-the-clock parking permits.
A Main Street business owner commented that the high school students take up too much space and that "They're clever, they're smart ... they rotate their cars." If indeed these students are having to move their cars around to deal with parking restrictions, the town should look into subsidizing this situation just like it's subsidizing the downtown merchants during the holidays to the tune of nearly $100,000. What's more important, getting shoppers into the stores or getting students into class? A high school student shouldn't have to worry about rotating parking spots during the school day.
Speaking of that roughly $100,000 holiday parking program: As the economy continues to worsen with each passing day, how much thought has the town given to demand come Christmas season? Not to throw gasoline onto a fire, but businesses on N. Santa Cruz Avenue are closing their doors for good. Some of the high-end goods popular during high times might be a tougher sell this Christmas. Is the town council whistling through the graveyard, hoping things will get better in the coming months to justify the expenditure?
Another idea proposed by the town is to change the town ordinance so that private landowners can lease their parking spaces to the town. One unintended result is that this could lead to parking space being sold to the highest bidder. In San Francisco, many renters face parking on the crowded street because the parking space for their building has been sold off. Councilman Randy Attaway was correct in characterizing the move as a "Pandora's box."
Fee increases appear to be the order of the day. The town's parking consultant has proposed increasing residential permits from $10 per vehicle to $50. Also, the town agreed to set aside 225 downtown parking spaces for employees and sell them monthly permits for $25. The town says the money generated from the increased fines will go toward hiring more parking enforcement officers. Apparently, as the parking bureaucracy grows, more money is needed to sustain it.
Los Gatan have rebuffed attempts to charge for parking in the town, but that's exactly what's happening. The meter is always ticking, it's just not physically there.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
