Pacifica Tribune "My Turn" article, 9/3/13. "The beginning days of paid parking" by Chris Fogel
 |
| Linda Mar State Beach parking lot |
"The City
of Pacifica's paid parking at Linda Mar Beach got underway on Aug. 16
with little fanfare and on the following Saturday, I visited the three
affected lots to get a sense of how the program was being received.
| Where the parking permit goes |
Use
of the lots appeared to be down slightly with anywhere from one-third
to one-half of the parking spots occupied. Of those cars present, only
half appeared to be displaying parking ticket receipts on their
dashboards. Parking along side streets and adjacent lots (Crespi Drive
and Pedro Point Shopping Center) was heavier than usual. Those avoiding
the pay lots by parking in nearby shopping centers did so at their peril
and ran the risk of their cars being towed. Read article.
----
Related- Stoke Report blog, Comment from 67, "Rant pass your Linda Mar Parking pass on..." "Just a little something I did today and was hoping that others will pay
it forward. If you pay with a credit card on the new parking meter
you'll basically end up with more time than you need....something like
$3 for four hours. I ended up surfing for 2 and passing my little piece
of paper along to someone else so they could get free parking. Just a thought if you feel like being a nice guy."
Note photos/graphics: Linda Mar parking lot from Scuba San Mateo. "Correct permit location" from the Stoke Report above.
Posted by Kathy Meeh
8 comments:
I've noticed that the Linda Mar lots are quite underutilized the past few days. Checked a couple of days late in the afternoon and found about 6-10 cars at lot south of Taco Bell, about 20 cars at lot north of Taco Bell, and less than 6 cars at SamTrans lot.
Lots of people seem to be parking at the 'free" lot just south of Pedro creek (like back in the old, old days).
while I don't think people are boycotting the idea of paid parking, I have to wonder if actual revenues are going to be high enough to pay those new rangers salaries.
Looking better today, maybe because it's hot? At lot north of Taco Bell bout 100 cars ; maybe 2 dozen at south lot; another dozen at SamTrans.
Suggest that Pacifica pay the rangers by the day. Some days the rangers win; some days they lose.
Those salaries have to be paid rain or shine, surf or none. It's going to be interesting.
Yep. The only dependable revenue will be from those dreaded surfers ( the ones whoallegedly don't contribute to the economy). The regulars will buy a yearly pass; the rest will only show up when the waves are really good. The rest of the revenue will be dependent on the weather. Guess if anything good comes ouut of this will be that there will likely be less off leash dogs or dogs period. Whose gonna drop three bucks every time they want to let their dog run on the beach?
The picture showing the sticker placement is actually WRONG. The correct location for the parking pass is the inside of the window, lower driver's side.
Well, this is Pacifica. Bound to be some confusion ya know? A consultant will be brought in to sort it out.
I visited the main Linda Mar Beach lot this last Saturday when the place was filled to overflowing. I met the second Ranger Pacifica hired and he's another great addition to the City with a good attitude and non-confrontational style.
He had written about seven tickets that day, so the grace period is over and warnings are no longer being issued.
The beach was unbelievably crowded, so Jeff (I didn't catch his last name) had his hands full maintaining the bathrooms and hauling out all the trash piling everywhere. I don't know how they can reasonably be expected to tackle any additional job duties such as beach patrol/off-leash dogs/snow plover on busy days.
Unfortunately, one of the ticket receipt machines has already been vandalized -- someone busted up the solar panel.
During the busier months those rangers will probably be more janitor and parking lot attendant than anything else. That would be too bad because those are the months where some of those other beach management tasks are most needed. Baby steps.
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