If you've ever visited downtown San Luis Obispo, there’s a good chance you had to pay to park. City officials say they want to make parking more user-friendly but first, they want to hear from the community, so they've launched a new parking rates study.
As a musician who plays guitar on the weekends in downtown San Luis Obispo, Jacob Cherdeak either has to lug his heavy equipment and park blocks from his gig or pay more than he’d like for closer parking.
“It's just super inconvenient for people who have a lot of stuff to bring, having to unload, move your car and then walk for however long if you want to find free parking, so it can just be a pain if you want to make it convenient and not super expensive,” Cherdeak said.
Cherdeak says if he could change one thing about downtown parking it would be the cost.
According to Jennifer Rice, San Luis Obispo's Deputy Director for Mobility Services, parking rates fund enforcement, maintenance and construction of all parking facilities in the city.
“The rate study is going to be the thing that analyzes how those rates cover all those essential services while still being friendly and convenient for the community,” Rice said.
The city wants to explore community ideas about downtown parking by conducting a parking rate study.
The study looks at what parking is currently like in the downtown area and possible opportunities for change that meet both the goals of the city and community needs.
All of these ideas will be brought to the city council in April but in the meantime, there will be an in-person discussion where you can share ideas. That's set to take place next Tuesday evening, February 13, from 6-8 p.m. at the San Luis Obispo Library, followed by a virtual meeting the next day.
For more information on how to participate, visit this link.
