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“The core issue is that the city has been overselling their monthly permits to non-employees, which cuts down on capacity for patrons and employees.”
Just wanted to highlight where those monthly permits are going for the sake of conversation. The city sells garage permits to students who are looking to avoid higher rates at their apartments. The result is a garage filled with cars that don’t frequently move. I’m attaching a picture of the roof completely full at 9:20 yesterday morning and various pics of an empty bottom floor and empty streets, which clearly show that city is actively deterring people from coming downtown.
The poorly planned roll out of the new parking policies is enough for me to dismiss the city’s claim of trying to “help” altogether. It’s nothing more than a money grab, and a poorly designed one at that.
Best, Andrew Hear Again Records 201 SE 2nd Ave. Suite 105 Gainesville, FL 32601 352-373-1800
Hello everyone,
As you know - the city's new downtown parking strategy puts significant emphasis on utilizing parking garage capacity, such as at the SW Downtown Garage. The problem is that the capacity in the SW garage has almost evaporated this fall. Yesterday the garage was completely full by mid morning, including the roof. This morning when I parked (around 7:30am), the roof of the garage was already about 50% full, and there was zero parking in the rest of the garage other than the bottom floor, which is for short term parking (I actually think the short term parking idea is a good one, although adjustments need to be made to increase utilization).
I've been dialoguing with the city about this issue for the past 1-2 years (providing suggestions, etc.) and haven't been getting anywhere. The core issue is that the city has been overselling their monthly permits to non-employees, which cuts down on capacity for patrons and employees.
If others have ideas, I'm all ears. I think this is a significant problem.
Good luck with that conversation. Seems dead set on not opening it back up.
On 8/17/2024 4:08 AM, Ken McGurn wrote:
I am meeting with the mayor late next week to get to the bottom of why they r not open to parking.
1st Ave sits empty most of the week, folks. Has for years…… Even the Downtown Advisory Board made a motion to open it. Harvey publicly stated in a recent article that he would vote against the board’s motion. Look no further for the reason why practicality is losing the fight.
Best, Andrew Hear Again Records 352-373-1800
Valuable spaces for folk to park and spend going to waste (maybe spaces in garage but folk do NOT like parking in garages…) And I’ve never found it a good idea to discourage or make it harder for my Customers to come to me… From: Adam Bass <adam@bassmanagementco.com>
Date: Friday, August 16, 2024 at 8:36?PM
To: Kenneth McGurn <ken@mcgurn.com>, Andrew Schaer <hearagain32601@gmail.com>
Cc: Mike <mpalmer22@gmail.com>, scott shillington <topchat@cox.net>, "gabby@thehipp.org" <gabby@thehipp.org>, Anthony Lyons <ALyons@amjinc.com>, David Villmow <david.villmow@vpizza.com>, "Mann, Philip R" <mannpr@cityofgainesville.org>, Chipper Flaniken <chipper@citychurchgnv.com>, Anthony Rue <true@voltacoffee.com>, "Singleton, Brian M" <SingletonBM@cityofgainesville.org>, Anthony Rue <anthony.rue@gmail.com>, Ben <gainesville@marksprimesteakhouse.com>, Danny Hughes <drhughes3@gmail.com>, Erik Zika <erik@threepointshospitality.com>, Gabriel Chavez <gabe@wyattscoffee.com>, Hirofumi Leung <hiro@dragonflyrestaurants.com>, Justin Griffin <justingriffin@hookedonharrys.com>, Linda McGurn <linda@mcgurn.com>, Michael Reeves <reevesm@circuit8.org>, Quang Tran <quang@collectiveand.co>, Ryan Murphy <ryan@rmurphyllc.com>, The How Bazar <thehowbazar@gmail.com>, Tony Thomas <tony@threepointshospitality.com>, "naileshpatel@bellsouth.net" <naileshpatel@bellsouth.net>, "paramountgrill@gmail.com" <paramountgrill@gmail.com>, "robert@robertarushpa.com" <robert@robertarushpa.com>, "shawncliche@gmail.com" <shawncliche@gmail.com>, City Commission Gainesville <CityComm@cityofgainesville.org>, Nathan Collier <nathan.collier@colliercompanies.com>, Michael Warren <mewarren@amjinc.com>, "Moti (Mordechai) Boaziz" <boazizmoti@maverickfl.com>
Subject: Re: Downtown Gainesville Parking - West 1st Avenue A busy afternoon Friday night but SW 1st Ave sits empty. Why can’t this be opened back up? On Aug 1, 2024 at 9:41?PM -0400, Andrew Schaer <hearagain32601@gmail.com>, wrote:
Just saw on Gainesville Word of Mouth that someone started another petition against paid parking. Link below. I met with City staff on SW 1st Avenue. The street can be opened ‘relatively’ easily because staff used removable bollards. The street is currently being redesigned as a pedestrian mall and so that it can continue to be parking when not used as a mall. NOTE: When that work begins they are “required” to rip out ALL the existing brick because ADA only allows a 2% slope ‘building to street.’ It is currently 5.5%. If they work on the street they must change the slope. Such a waste. However, nothing can be done. ADA is ADA and controlled at the state level. The street is in very poor shape and absolutely must be redone. In my opinion whomever is organizing the dancing in the street should move to the plaza because of the trip hazard liability. The street should be opened immediately to cars to move pedestrian back to the sidewalks and out of the street. PS Originally they used the wrong trees. Those tree roots spread far and wide uplifting the sidewalk and street. The city wants to change the type tree to reduce this issue in the future. I'll reach out to city leadership about potentially getting a response to the surveys. Even if there's disagreement, it would be very helpful to hear the nature of their disagreement. Silence won't get us very far. We'll need to speak honestly with each other and potentially discuss compromises, etc.
I agree with Ken's thought about library parking, especially since the library system is primarily funded by our tax dollars. It makes sense that spaces funded in this way would be made publicly available as much as possible. Thanks Scott and Ken. I'm in support of both library parking and the reopening of SW 1st Ave. I would also like to see the Downtown Advisory Board vote reverse the city's decision to implement paid parking in August. I understand this will take more time. Many thanks to the board for getting involved. Hello Everyone - Scott from The Top here, We appreciate Ken’s comments on downtown access and the lack of patron parking for all downtown establishments. Downtown needs support from our City now more than ever. If there is anyone on this thread who feels the closing of SW 1st Ave has negatively affected the ability for people to visit and support downtown merchants and organizations, then please be vocal. Ken’s photo of an empty SW 1st Ave shows the lack of merchant support we are experiencing daily. This corridor once gave vital support to all tenants of downtown. It was the main east/west parking solution for patrons who live across and outside of town. In the morning this area was once parking for the coffee houses, the Church, and downtown breakfast joints and brunch cafes. At noon these spaces provided access for lunch spots like Harry’s, The Paper Bag Deli, Pop A Top, and many other daytime food options. After lunch, it provided access to visit Gator Spirit convenient store, Hear Again Records, tattoo shops, local Pool Halls, or a great show at The Hipp. At dinner time folks could access parking for Dragonfly, Paramount, Marks Steakhouse, Boca Fiesta, or one of the many other special dinner options that give downtown its flavor. The point is, this parking area supported all Mom and Pop style businesses that make our downtown special, and attract people from all over to visit. To take this parking away post Covid, was not supportive. Keeping downtown creative should always be encouraged, so implementing the ability to temporarily close this SW 1st ave for programmed special events should always remain a healthy option. Maybe first Fridays? Special events can and must continue, but we all need the street back for patron parking during the many hours and days this space currently lays inoperable. The downtown advisory board has got it right requesting to open this street to parking access, but they need all concerned merchants to contact the Mayor and City Commissioners to insure they are listening. Last October we collected 35 signatures of local downtown businesses that were in favor of returning this street to patron parking. There was no response from the City. So if you support this idea, it is time to be heard. Additionally, we agree the Library parking lot and the County District Attorney lot have great potential for weekend parking to expand. Better lighting downtown and more police presence on weekends is needed to insure a safe environment. We need to have a safe downtown with a supportive amount of patron parking, then we can have the good folks at "Go Downtown" promote and advertise this special area as the fantastic option it clearly is. This is how we all can grow the heart of Gainesville. Please contact Mayor Ward or any of the City Commissioners to hear your concerns. Two empty parking lots. Downtown parking is getting more and more expensive and harder to find. This causes marginal people to avoid the area when there is free parking at all non-downtown restaurants. However, we have almost 90 unused downtown spaces. They are SW 1st Avenue, which I understand the new advisory board voted to have reopened and the library. The library closed their lot years ago because of the cost to clean up the trash. Perhaps it could be opened on Friday and Saturday nights with the City agreeing to clean that lot on those two following mornings. A relatively small amount of money would be needed to do this especially if it was only used during normally high use weekends. It seems wasteful to have that many readily available spaces going unused. (See pictures). Thanks for the ongoing dialogue everyone. We'll fill out the survey and send it in soon. Andrew I'm guessing Passport experiences vary widely among those on this email chain based on whom we serve. Plenty of people who go to City Church have no problem with it, but anecdotally probably half of those who are 65+ have ongoing difficulties with it. We've also had a lot of problems with the validation system, but I recognize not everyone uses that function. We'll see what the surveys say, but given the email feedback I wonder if a hybrid/diplomatic approach as far as what we send to the city is something like: 1. We collectively advocate for 24/7 free parking with well-enforced time limits during peak hours (such as what Adam proposed in his letter). 2. If the city disagrees with our advocacy and moves forward with paid parking, we advocate for a system in which patrons only pay to park during peak hours (like Adam proposed in his letter) with well-enforced time limits. We also advocate for low parking rates and clearly marked means of payment that do not require use of the passport app (even if the app continues to be offered as one payment option). 3. We request additional dialogue with the city in the near future concerning some of the challenges with Passport and the difficulties some patrons face when it's the exclusive payment option. 4. We request dialogue with the city in the near future to share some of our ideas concerning the stewardship of the SW garage and hear about proposed plans for the garage. 5. We request dialogue with the city in the near future to give input concerning their plans for the streetery.
Church Office: 352-587-2144
Before getting into the replies, please try to remember how dead the downtown streets were for 3 weeks in 2022 when the City first implemented Passport Parking. The plan worked. There was parking galore because nobody was coming downtown. This chain started because the people here were opposed to replacing free time limit parking with Passport Parking. We're still very much opposed to that. The majority of emails in this thread show as much. A few weeks ago, Chipper sent in an email stating that he has had to sacrifice sermon time in order to help his congregation navigate the parking app. Customers tell me all the time that the app gives them issues. It's not just the app though, it's paid parking in general. Those of us who have competition in town with ample free parking know that paid parking will cripple us. It's not inviting, and it will not lead to more people coming downtown - only less. With regard to enforcement, it's specified in #1. "Preserve free street parking and encourage the removal of Passport Parking from City lots. We propose enforced time limits of 1-2 hours instead." While the garage is and will continue to be an issue, it is best to strike it from the agenda at this time. There have been many emails in this chain identifying issues with the SW 3rd St garage and many opportunities for AMJ to speak to those issues. Hopefully, we can brainstorm some cool ideas to help with that situation moving forward. The main concerns expressed in this chain have been paid street parking, the Passport Parking app, safety, the garage, and the reopening of SW 1st Ave. Correct me if I'm wrong, but our communications with the city have basically led to a proposal for Passport Parking (with two free hours), which relies on use of the app and only encourages
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