HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-04-22 Public Comment - M. Harris - Parking Downtown Commission Agenda Oct 4From:Mary Pat Harris
To:Agenda
Cc:Mary Pat Harris
Subject:Parking Downtown/commission agenda Oct 4
Date:Tuesday, October 4, 2022 1:31:06 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
To Bozeman City Commission:
We do not support paid parking in downtown Bozeman. The city of Bozeman cannot earmark 100% of
the revenue from charging a vehicle to park downtown to go towards cost of the parking garage. It would
have to go to public transportation as well, resulting in falling short to cover the cost currently projected.
The overall math also falls short with the projected revenue and will never be enough to cover the parking
garage based on the models supplied.
Paid parking creates additional parking problems for all households surrounding the downtown corridor
pushing locals, employees and others deeper into streets off of downtown.
Paid parking will deter locals and the like from going downtown, and hurt revenue streams for downtown
businesses.
The solution is to build the additional parking garage, currently in the process, creating approx 400
additional spaces which will alleviate these parking issues. How does the city pay for this? With existing
funds that are currently available, grants that are tangible and a small SID tax on bozeman businesses.
As a small business owners and building owner downtown, we would rather pay $1000 per year for 10
years towards the parking garage. If all businesses pay a similar tax, it will cover the cost of the parking
garage therefore not putting the burden on the customers.
There are different algorithms you can use to cover the expense without introducing paid parking.
Paid parking will not cover the cost of the garage and will not be an economical solution as business
owners will also be on the hook to help cover costs for employees parking. We will essentially be double
charged to keep our employees downtown.
Simple solution is for an SID type fee for Bozeman residents and employers…easy solution.
Just as an example, you cannot also limit paid parking to just downtown corridor. You have businesses all
the way to the high school advertising “downtown Bozeman” as well as along North 7th and Wast Main. It
is not a fair solution to penalize a certain group of businesses in the downtown corridor, which opens the
city up to a lawsuit.
Please do not create more of a negative solution for downtown Bozeman. Please work on building and
paying for the parking garage in a more sustainable way that does not penalize our downtown
businesses.
Kindly,
Mary Pat and Jim Harris
Bozeman Spirits Distillery