USPS Publication Number 16300
T h is C o m mu n i t y N ewsp a p er is a pu bl ica t ion of E sca m bia / S a n t a Rosa B a r Assoc ia t ion
Se r v i ng t he Fi r st Jud icial Ci rcu it
Section A, Page 1
Vol. 18, No. 40
Visit The Summation Weekly Online: www.summationweekly.com
October 10, 2018
1 Section, 8 Pages
Downtown Parking Debacle Nears Resolution By Will Isern
T
he downtown-parking saga that riled business owners and baffled visitors is nearing an end, but some changes will remain in place. Following months of public backlash, The Downtown Improvement Board has scrapped its contract with Premium Parking and taken management of downtown parking back in-house. The decision could save the DIB as much as $150,000 a year to be reinvested in beautification and other projects. The rollout of the new system under Premium Parking was troubled from the start. With virtually no communication, a new pay-by-plate system was implemented in March, replacing the old ticket kiosks and introducing extended hours of enforcement and increased rates. Benefits included the ability to pay by text or via a smartphone app, but downtown business owners complained that the changes were too confusing and cumbersome for many of their patrons, and worried that visitors would rather avoid downtown altogether rather than contend with the new parking system. Perhaps the most vocal critic during the transition was Kevin Leahman, co-owner with his wife of the Fosko Coffee Barre and Pure Barre exercise studio. Leahman erected signs facing the Jefferson Street parking garage to encourage the public to speak out against the changes.
“I never really had a problem going to a more technologybased system,” Leahman said. “What really got me involved was I felt like they were overcharging for parking. They were charging $3 for parking at the Jefferson Street garage and they regularly had 125 empty spaced … The second thing was that that the DIB had no outreach to local citizens, they had no process.” Erroneous signage, wrongfully issued tickets and a “culture of enforcement” only exacerbated the problems. The board’s former executive director, Curt Morse, resigned his position at the height of the public backlash. Following Morse’s resignation, longtime assistant executive director, Lissa Dees, took over as executive director and immediately began a review of the board’s contract with Premium Parking. “What we found when we looked at the financials was that we were paying for is the safety net of saying we had a parking management company, and there was really no reason why we needed that,” Dees said. Following Dees’ recommendation, the DIB voted in August to end its management contract with Premium Parking.
“If someone had questions about parking or got a citation, they still came to our office, so there was really no need for us to continue to pay those fees to say that we had a parking management company,” Dees said. We’re going to reinvest those dollars back into parking and into our community.” Premium Parking is not entirely out of the picture. The DIB decided in early September to keep the text-to-pay and smartphone app systems in place, and is keeping Premium Parking on a month-by-month basis to provide those services until they work out a deal with a new company. Negotiations are underway with a provider called Passport based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Dees also said that Premium’s red parking signs that have sprung up across downtown will be changed to a more friendly color, and that the DIB will add security to the Jefferson Street parking garage on weekends. Going forward, Dees said, the DIB will move away from a “culture of enforcement” to a more hospitable approach. “What I have instructed to everyone one here is that we are Southern hospitality first. Wring citations is the last step. If we see a person struggling at the meter, or if that person doesn’t know where to park, we’re going to have that conversation and try to help them,” Dees said. “There are certain guidelines we ask you stay in when parking downtown, but it’s Southern hospitality first
and foremost.” The upshot for those trying to park downtown is that paid parking is enforced from 8 am to 7 pm Monday through Friday. You can still use the textto-pay system and smartphone app. Those who would rather not use those options can still pay at sidewalk kiosks. And if you still find the whole thing too confusing, the DIB is planning to host public workshops to explain the system to anyone who’d like a fuller explanation. Meanwhile Leahman has, somewhat reluctantly, accepted a position on the DIB’s parking committee. He hopes
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to improve the system from the inside. “I think we need to go to a cheaper software provider and then I think it’s to let parking marinade for a while while we do some common sense data collection, slow it down and a make some intelligent decisions,” Leahman said. Despite his frustrations over the last six months, Leahman said he can see light at the end of the tunnel. “I think the DIB is going slower, I think they’re threading more lightly and I think they’re trying to get more input before they make these changes,” he said.
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