San Bruno is moving forward with plans to remove parking meters on El Camino Real and include a 50 cent rate for one hour of parking in the lots, rather than $1 for two hours.
The City Council voted 3-2 on the resolution, with Mayor Rico Medina and Councilmember Michael Salazar dissenting.
That vote has become commonplace as the city struggles to deal with its beleaguered parking program — the council voted 3-2 earlier this year to move forward with starting citywide parking meter enforcement at 10 a.m., rather than 8 a.m., and not raise parking meter rates to alleviate the funding deficit that will come from those decisions.
Salazar, who has previously expressed serious concerns that the city’s substantial changes to the parking program — an attempt to mollify disgruntled business owners and shoppers — would go against the original, long-term goal of pushing longer-term parkers into the lots and keeping short-term parkers downtown.
During the council’s meeting June 24, Salazar also said that he was worried changing the rate to 50 cents an hour for coin-based transactions might make using the kiosks more convoluted for parkers, particularly given the minimal difference.
“I understand the goal is, of course, to make this program successful and to make it tolerable,” he said. “I’m concerned in our attempt to solve a problem, we’re only going to make it more complicated.”
The City Council and staff have slowly been attempting to rectify some of the most erroneous elements of the program, including resolving longstanding kiosk and credit card issues.
Alongside decisions to change the makeup of the program’s enforcement and remove 21 parking kiosks on El Camino Real, the council also committed $95,000 a year full-time technician to deal with the kiosk’s bevy of technical programs.
Councilmembers were also in agreement that the city needed to find a more effective mobile app.
Councilmember Sandy Alvarez said that despite the challenges involved with switching rates in long-term parking lots, it was important for the city to show it’s listening to the community.