Local SFOperators Stopped Parking Tax Increase; You Can Too, They Say


C


ITIESARE LOOKING FORMONEY. And where else but that traditional cash cow, parking. It’s simple: Just tax park- ing receipts and collectmillions.


Not so fast, some parking operators say.


Believing these taxes would have a detrimental effect on their industry, they are beginning to push back. “We simply can’t stand aside and allow taxes on parking


(receipts) to increase,” said Tim Leonoudakis, President of City Park in San Francisco. “The increase affects not only our busi- ness, but also the health of the entire downtown business core.” Leonoudakis was part of a group that stopped the doubling


of the parking tax in San Francisco in 2006. “Itwasn’t something done lightly,” he said. “We took on the city, and won.” As Leonoudakis tells it, word came down back then that the


San Francisco Board of Supervisors was putting the tax increase on the ballot just 90 days before the election. Itwas called Propo- sition E. The local parking companies founded an association for the


express purpose of defeating Prop. E. They hired a lobbyist, put together a budget that exceeded $350,000, and started to work.


“There are a lot of stakeholders in this process,” Leo-


noudakis said, “including all real estate developers, the cham- ber of commerce, business associations, and virtually all unions. Each one has a vested interest in keeping businessmov- ing in the city.” Typically, business and unions are on opposite sides of an


issue.However, in this case, each sawthat the reduction of traffic in the downtown area, the threat of business moving out of the city, people making choices to work and play in other areas were a direct threat to all their livelihoods. “Wewent to organizations, individuals and unions and asked


for donations,” Leonoudakis said. “It didn’t take long tomeet the budget. It was a grass-roots campaign.We told the people of San Francisco that the city was raising their taxes in a time when we couldn’t afford it. “The single most expensive part of the project was the tele-


vision campaign.We went on the local cable stations. The pro- duction and ad buys cost $150,000. “We stressed that the new taxes were bad for business, bad


formerchants, and would be killing the downtown,” he said. Members of the group met with the editorial boards of the


Continued on Page 24


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