It’s time for a bit of perspective about the parking problems
that are cropping up in downtown Gilroy.
It’s time for a bit of perspective about the parking problems that are cropping up in downtown Gilroy.
First, this is a good problem to have.
We’re glad that more people are downtown. It’s a sign that, economically, the potential is there. More bodies mean more dollars.
The problem is that some prime parking spots along Monterey Street – which retail-oriented businesses understandably want reserved for shoppers and diners – are being monopolized by workers.
“There really are three broad scenarios possible,” City Transportation Engineer Don Dey told reporter Serdar Tumgoren. “One, do nothing, which is what we’re doing right now. Second, is to go with some type of timed limits like two hours. Or third, the parking meters, which are to a great extent self-enforcing, but do require a certain amount of enforcement to make sure people pay for the parking.”
It’s not a problem that should be ignored, or one to which city leaders should overreact.
Let’s start with Dey’s second option: Let’s paint curbs and install signs with a reasonable time limit – say a couple of hours, enough time so that a restaurant patron can eat, but short enough that an office worker will be motivated to park somewhere else. Also, let’s provide a phone number so that business owners can call to report offenders.
The Gilroy Downtown Association should take the lead role in educating its members about why respecting these time limits is important to the economic health of downtown and how to report violators.
This approach is less strident than installing meters or writing expensive tickets, which should be instituted only as measures of last resort. If, after some reasonable time period, the lower-level painted-curb response fixes the problem, great.
If not, then it will be time to move to more punitive enforcement – meters and parking tickets.
Hopefully, employers will law down the law to employees. Taking up a parking slot on Monterey for 8 hours is not acceptable – walk a block or two to your car.
“We’re looking for the gentlest level of encouragement to try and create a customer-friendly parking experience,” Mike Waller, a transportation consultant, told Tumgoren.
Painted curbs and time-limit signs are “gentler” than meters. Let’s give them a shot.
