HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-24-23 Public Comment - D. Loseff - Public Comment on Downtown Public Parking proposalFrom:David Loseff
To:Agenda; Terry Cunningham
Subject:Public Comment on Downtown Public Parking proposal
Date:Tuesday, January 24, 2023 10:27:17 AM
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Dear Commissioners,
Thank you for your consideration of my following comments on the proposal over institutingpaid parking downtown.
I am the owner of the Baxter as well as several operating businesses such as the Bacchus Pub,
our residential rental and office operations and I am also working in collaboration with Ted´sMontana Grill. I am also the owner of several other properties in the downtown core area and
brewery district which I am actively exploring future development. In that capacity, I havepersonally invested many millions of dollars in our downtown core area and anticipate making
further investment to develop residential housing and other commercial uses. Further in thatcapacity, my various businesses and properties employ many local residents both directly and
indirectly as well as providing entertainment venues which generate salaries, income, taxdollars, etc.
Access to free available parking within our downtown core is critical to supporting the
ongoing success of our historic downtown area and its various businesses. Imposing paidparking will place our businesses at a serious competitive disadvantage to other emerging
areas such as the Cannery District, Ferguson Farms, businesses on N. 7th and N. 19th andfuture commercial development along S. 19th. Recent surveys have shown that introducing
paid parking downtown will send many of our customers elsewhere. Also, as you should beaware, our downtown properties and businesses pay property taxes equal to 25x the property
tax per square foot paid by properties and businesses outside the downtown town core(Sonoran study.....also restated in downtown plan which shows the property tax differential at
6x price per acre of outlying areas). We have previously paid SIDs for downtown parking andalso TIF dollars.......imposing a new defacto tax on our customers via instituting paid parking
will only add to the burden and harm downtown businesses. In short, it is killing the goldengoose by piling on more taxes. And the core question becomes.......why institute substantial
changes on something which isn't broken (a vibrant diverse downtown).
I also question whether or not the proceeds from new paid parking will actually be reservedand deployed towards truly obtaining new parking. The fact that the City Commission opted
to allocate $1.6 million from the TIF dollars towards addressing workforce housing issuesinstead of reserving it for finding new parking downtown (as we were told many times over
many years), indicates that this is really more of just another tax which will get deployedelsewhere. Similarly, the City's decision to allow for the construction of a new 140 room AC
Marriott Hotel without adding one single new parking space or even charging impact fees (justgetting a lease on a now former parking lot which is currently being built out after the hotel
site plan was approved.....bait and switch)......further raises questions about the legitimacy ofarguments that paid parking needs to be instituted to address downtown parking issues. Based
on those actions, it seems that the opposite is true and paid parking will only further harm ourdowntown businesses,
Respectfully,David Loseff