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POINTOF VIEW from Page 6


You gottamove with the times…Of course, in DC, itmight


be hard for a lobbyist to change a congressman’s mind while sit- ting on the grass near a gourmet truck. I wonder if expense accounts cover grass stains?


***


Parking is Hands-On; This Mayor is Too … Bill Fulton, Mayor ofVentura, CA, is talking about the new


downtown parking program recently fired up in the Southern California coastal town. It’s working as advertised. With an increase in charges for on-street parking, long-termparkers (read that store employees) aremoving to off-street lots, and thosewho want to park on the street can now do so. How does the Mayor know all this? He’s out walking the


streets at 10:30 a.m., a half hour after the new rules went into effect in mid-September. He then goes out again at 3 p.m. He talks to parkers, tomerchants, to store employees. His comments: Main Street merchants have come to see that paid parking


can help them too by opening up short-term spaces close to their store.As the owner of JerseyMike’s told me today, her customers used to have to circle the block three times looking for a space or park in a faraway parking lot. Now they can park right in front of her shop for a quarter – or a dime – or a nickel – while they pick up their order. Because even though it’s $1 for the first hour, you can buy less time with coins. And there’s less traffic on the street because there’s less“cruising” for a parking space.… And he’s back out walking the downtown streets at 6 p.m.:


Some people who grumbled about this idea pointed to the


experience this summer at Ventura Harbor: Paid parking was instituted in the prime lot near theVillage on weekends. But, the complainers pointed out, the Harbor ended the program early because they didn’t achieve their revenue goals.True enough, but it was a gloomy summer and tourist business was off generally. And what the complainers tend to overlook is the fact that the Harbor actually did meet the parking management goals. Employees and all-day parkers going to the Channel Islands parked elsewhere, freeing up plenty of space for people shopping at theVillage. In that sense, it was a success. This guy is smart. He knows that parking is really a street-


level business. Sitting in one’s office looking at reports doesn’t tell the tale.You have to go out and look, talk, ask and see. Then you know what is going on in your parking garage or lot, or on the streets of your city. How many of you parking facili-


ty owners walk your property as this mayor does?


PT


three weeks early at parkingtoday.com


See PT


8


NOVEMBER 2010 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


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