Los Gatos Weekly-Times Chamber pushes a parking plan to help business through holidays New restrictions, new shops at Old Town pose problems Incentive program offered By Jeff Kearns When Jan Brady of the old Brady Bunch TV series felt overshadowed by all the attention showered on her older sister, she whined, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" The Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce, which has been doing its best to pull itself up by its bootstraps in recent months and emerge from its own adolescence, has a similar gripe: "Parking, parking, parking!" It's making town officials feel a little like Mike and Carol Brady. Chamber members worry that the parking plague will be even worse than last year. Even with the 105-space underground garage at Old Town set to open in mid-November, three large businesses--Borders, California Cafe and Oakville Grocery--are now open for business, and recent parking 24-hour restrictions have forced nonresidents to abandon using University Avenue for parking during the day. At the Nov. 2 Town Council meeting, business owners packed the Council Chambers for a discussion on what to do. Councilmembers, however, have heard it all ad nauseam, and know they're due for criticism no matter what they do, and town officials have already tried--and been criticized for--some of the same proposals merchants want to implement. Because different businesses have different parking needs--retail needs short-term spaces that turn over frequently; office workers need long-term spaces, so employees don't have to leave their desks every two or three hours to move the car--councilmembers told the Chamber to come up with its own proposal and bring it back for the next meeting, on Nov. 16. Some merchants blame the town for not finding a solution, but town officials say there's plenty of parking around downtown for employees and customers who are willing to walk more than a block. One Lyndon Plaza small-business owner complained to the council that his employees were quitting because they couldn't find parking near work, but town manager David Knapp says the 12 new parking spaces at the now-closed Peerless Bus Depot at 141 S. Santa Cruz Ave. are almost always empty. (Although the depot is closed, Greyhound buses still stop there.) Ditto for the parking spaces and lots on Miles Avenue, which are unlimited public lots that almost always sit empty, even though they're only a block-and-a-half walk down the Creek Trail from Old Town. Same for the Park & Ride across from Village Lane on Highway 9, Knapp says. Chamber execs started putting together a plan immediately after last week's Monday night council meeting, approved a proposal at their board meeting Wednesday morning, and brought it to the Parking Commission Thursday morning. Executive director Sheri Lewis said the plan includes a voluntary incentive program for downtown businesses to get their employees to park in underutilized lots, leaving closer spaces for consumers. "It's so we become a consumer-friendly town again," Lewis said. The program, called Los Gatos Parking Partners, was forwarded Nov. 5 by the Parking Commission to the council. On a volunteer basis, participating businesses would ask employees to park farther away and hold a weekly raffle of services or merchandise for employees parked in designated lots with identifying cards on the dash. The council also considered locations for valet parking downtown during the holiday season. Last year's valet program was met with mixed reviews. Daytime shoppers stayed away, apparently unable to justify paying $2 just to run into a store for a minute. Additionally, many spaces on the bottom level of Lot 4 were open, but drivers couldn't park there without paying. At night, however, even with an increased $4 fee, restaurant-goers flocked to valet parking. This year, merchants want another shot at valet parking, but if it's going to happen in time for the holiday shopping season, town officials are going to have to bend the rules a little. Town ordinance stipulates that businesses can't valet park on private lots unless the town has also made available valet parking on public lots. Because the application process can't be completed until after the holidays, concilmembers said they would probably not enforce the rules. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 11, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.