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Parking plan for holidays will include valet service
By Nathan R. Huff
The town council moved forward with the holiday parking program on Oct.2, committing itself to a valet service and numerous improvements to town lots. Overall, the council approved spending as much as $441,000 for repaving and parking management over the next three months.
However, debate over the cost and scope of a proposed shuttle system and another delay in making a decision about parking on University and Tait avenues showed that a comprehensive parking plan is still a long way off.
Interim Town Manager Les White and Assistant Town Manager Jim Piper presented the council with an update on the downtown holiday parking program. Among the projects the town is starting are: spending $30,000 to pave the Miles Avenue parking area; $8,000 to improve the shoulder along Miles Avenue; $30,000 for "parkin g ambassadors" who will direct shoppers to open stalls; $7,000 in increased enforcement of parking time restrictions; and $10,000 in improved signage on town lots. The town will also spend $215,000 to resurface town lots 1 and 2, however, that project was planned before the creation of the holiday parking program.
Most of the council discussion on Oct. 2, centered on the two most expensive parts of the program--the proposed valet service and the shuttle system. The valet program would service town lot 4, providing unlimited parking on the bottom level and short-term parking on the upper level. The cost of providing the service from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the lower level and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on the upper level for eight weeks starting Oct. 29, is $45,000.
The shuttle system would provide two 40-person shuttles operating 16 hours a day for the same eight weeks. Town staff suggested the extensive service, based on the belief that last year's shuttle system failed because it was not convenient enough for employees.
Council members, however, balked at the idea of spending $80,000 on a system that was scarcely used last holiday season. "I don't see this as a necessary expenditure," Councilman Joe Pirzynski said. "It seems like it's overkill for something that's not going to immediately benefit us."
With the exception of Mayor Steve Blanton, who referred to the concept as "wishful thinking," all council members indicated a willingness to try some form of a shuttle system. Suggestions, such as using only one shuttle, police department community service officers, or a business-sponsored taxi were raised. Los Gatan John Tice suggested exploring the possibility of using golf carts to ferry employees down to the Miles Avenue lot.
The council approved funding for the entire holiday parking program, but asked staff to return on Oct. 16, with other shuttle options. Noting that time was running out, staff members pledged to explore less expensive shuttle options, but they also shared a little of their frustration with the lack of consensus.
"It seems that there is no solution anyone has been able to identify so far that everyone's confident in, that everyone agrees should be done, that doesn't harm anyone, that benefits everyone and that doesn't cost anything," Piper said. "I have to tell you, there is no such thing I can think of."
Along with new shuttle options, the Oct. 18 meeting will open the contentious issue of parking in the Edelen neighborhood and on Tait and Wilder avenues. Town staff met with residents from the two areas on Sept. 26, a meeting both staff and neighbors at the council meeting described as productive.
However, staff asked that they be allowed some extra time to evaluate information from the meeting that could influence their current recommendation to open up University Avenue to some parking.
Residents from both sides of downtown showed up at the meeting, a preview of a possibly bigger crowd at the Oct. 16 council meeting. Tait Avenue resident Tom Boyce asked that the council not allow what happened to the Almond Grove neighborhood last year happen again.
"We would just like to be a residential neighborhood rather than a commercial overflow parking lot," Boyce said.
Edelen resident and local developer Bill Errico spoke about the safety hazards of University Avenue, that he said would be compounded by bumper to bumper parking on the street.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
