Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Bill Bacchi (left) and Bert Millen are pounding the pavement to talk to downtown business and property owners about a partnership with the town to build two parking garages.

Town Chamber talking up a partnership for parking

By Nathan R. Huff

Standing on the cracked pavement of the town's Parking Lot 2 behind the Eureka building, Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce member Bill Bacchi motions to an older gentleman slowly getting out of his car. "We have a lot of retired and elderly people in this town," Bacchi says, "and if they're going to shop here they've got to have close parking."

For Bacchi and fellow Chamber member Bert Millen, convincing downtown property owners to pick up part of the financial burden for two new parking garages has been a summer-long mission. While both are quick to say they are only a small part of a Chamber of Commerce that's been hard at work for years trying to remedy what many business people call a parking "crisis," Bacchi and Millen played a central role in pulling property owners aboard the plan presented to the Town Council on Sept. 20. The plan includes creation of an assessment district, employee permit parking and paid parking.

The council had told the Chamber that two parking structures were out of the question, unless the business community was willing to share costs. To learn where downtown business people stood and to drum up enthusiasm for the plan, Bacchi and Millen spoke with business and property owners about what an assessment district entailed.

According to state law, towns or cities cannot force businesses into assessment districts. However, if the business community can present to the town a straw pole indicating the majority of property owners are in favor of assessment, the town can create a district. That is exactly what the Chamber did, and it was not easy.

Many local property owners are still paying into the 1987 assessment district which was used to pave the corridor of downtown parking lots, as well as construct Lot 4. Persuading these folks to look 10 to 20 years down the road was a challenge. "To do things right almost always costs more up front," Bacchi said.

"But you're saving a lot in the end," Millen continued. He cited the town's purchase of the railway corridor, which has since been converted into the downtown lots, as a "fantastic thing that shows the farsightedness of the mayor and council back in the '60s."

Convincing the whole town to look at parking with this same long-term perspective has been the most recent goal of the Chamber, led by executive director Sheri Lewis, who Millen described as "one of the best executive directors anyplace."

Polls by the Chamber show that the majority of residents would be willing to pay for parking, an indication, they believe, of how much of a community effort the whole project is. "A community is only as strong as the people who are willing to support it and work for it," said Bacchi, a Los Gatos resident for almost 30 years.

Bacchi and Millen also give credit to the council for its willingness to be part of a community partnership to address parking with long-term solutions. "Finally we have a council that is willing to take that leap which a lot of politicians in other cities aren't willing to do," said Millen.

Bacchi said the assessment district's preliminary success comes from the grass-roots organizing efforts by the Chamber and business community. Letters were sent to downtown property owners, telephone calls followed, and Bacchi and Millen made personal visits. "To get an opportunity to present our information to these very busy people and get a positive reaction is really special," Bacchi said, adding that he particularly valued the chance to hear the many stories older property owners in town had to share.

Millen and Bacchi continue to work on bringing the numbers up to the 60 percent the council requested, a chore the two volunteered for because of their long history in the community. Bacchi said that while this current project may be looking at new solutions to an old problem, the intent is the same one the town has always had--to get the cars parked and let the people walk around in town.

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