Parking Rates Recap

---

March 21, 2022—City Commission Meeting:

Ordinance/Resolution: “RESOLUTION NO. 88-22: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, ESTABLISHING NEW RATES, FINES AND HOURS OF OPERATION FOR THE CITY PARKING SYSTEM”

Staff member, Parking Administrator Edward Davis and Assistant City Administrator, Amando Fana along with Mayor James had the job of selling the new rates to the Commissions and they did a good job. Two residents spoke against 88-22 and one resident requesting the rates not be changed and another asked the commission to table it until Commissioner Fox was in attendance and also mentioned he didn’t hear about the meeting until 3:21 that afternoon. The City Commissioners passed it unanimously and the new rates went into effect May 1, 2022.

May 4, 2022— West Palm Beach Merchant Group Meeting: Led by Rodney Mayo.

Meeting was held with the West Palm Beach Merchant Group concerning the new parking rates and the 5 City Commissioners were invited to attend and hear the problems the group anticipated with the parking rate increase.

Of the five invited Commissioners Fox, Lambert, Peduzzi, Ward and Warren only Fox attended. Not invited, but attended was Edward Davis, Parking Administrator and Amando Fana, Assistant City Manager.

May 9, 2022— Recap Merchant Meeting Wednesday May 4th written by Rodney Mayo reads in part:

(1) “The parking department referred to a study of unlimited hours for street parking and the negative impact it had on businesses. Could we please get a copy of that study along with any updated parking studies that may have followed the study dated September 2017?

(2) City Staff referred to a study regarding Sunday parking fees and the net result of decreasing problems with brunch customers downtown. Could we please get a copy of that study?

Parking department was looking into how many spaces will be available for employee parking downtown at the discounted rate of $50. We were told there is some jumbling around of spaces and an accurate number was not available last week at our meeting. With an estimated 2,500 hospitality workers along the Clematis corridor it seems imperative we have a number of spaces available for our staff. Even if it is somewhat of a rough estimate we need to know if this number is 100, 500, 1,000, 2,000 etc. The Merchant group has expressed strong concern over this issue as businesses are already experiencing employee complaints of not being able to afford to work downtown with $20 parking rates for a full shift currently. Hospitality employees are bearing the cost of these new rates now and we would hope city staff would have this figured out and the structure in place prior to enacting the rate increase”

Dear Mr. Mayo,

Hopefully, but I doubt you received the 2 studies mentioned above. Let me share with readers my PRR sent to the City, and their reply.

May 11, 2022— RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of May 11, 2022, Reference # R031390-051122

The City of West Palm Beach received a public records request from you on May 11, 2022.

Your request mentioned:

“How many spaces will be available for hospitality workers, employee parking in the five garages listed below ? Please list parking spaces available for each garage.
What will be the cost of parking in a City Garage for an 8 hour shift?
How many hospitality workers, employee’s have requested their name be placed on a waiting list to secure a parking spot in the 5 listed parking garages?
Banyan Garage at Banyan Blvd & Olive Ave, City Center Garage, Clematis St. Garage at Clematis & Quadrille, Evernia Garage at Evernia St. & Dixie Hwy; Police Garage on Clematis Street” 

May 13, 2022 1:46 pm— City’s response to my PRR:

“The City does not answer questions in response to a public records request; however, there are no documents in response to any of the questions.”— “This email is to notify you that no records exist. Your request has been closed.”

May 13, 2022 3:39 pm— “This is the response added in the system. I have attached the City’s public records policy regarding responding to questions.” “No files exists for the questions, Daniel Giust” Who is Mr. Giust? 

Public_Records_Request_policy_05012020

 

Double click to enlarge pic.

Parking Meter No more free parking on Sunday, Holiday’s and between the hours of 7:00 PM til 7:00AM.

New Rates:

Effective May 1, 2022

Meters Enforced 24/7

2 Hour Max. 6 AM to Midnight

Vehicle must be moved After 2 Hours

Overnight Parking

Midnight to 6 AM

Paid by ParkMobile Only

We Accept

Discover MasterCard Visa

Dollar coins, Quarters and ParkMobile

Meter Malfunction Please Call (822) 1500

Handicapped Parking:

If you have a Handicap Placard you are allowed to park where a handicap sign is located, or park at a parking meter for four (4) hours at no cost. Clematis St; one city block between Quadrille and Dixie there were three (3) handicapped spots. Now there are Two (2). Roxy’s on Clematis has the handicapped sign stenciled on the street, but no sign on a pole. Please fix it or someone will park, and receive a $250.00 fine.

 

 

Paid by ParkMobile Only:

Millions of people have a smart phone, millions more do not. You can’t use ParkMobile with a dumb phone. Older residents would have a problem downloading the app. Remember we didn’t grow up with computers!

Dear Commissioners,

When the Ordinance/Resolution was passed on March 21, 2022 Commissioner Shoaf represented District 1, and the reins were turned over to Commissioner Ward. Common Sense would dictate this was not going to be popular with business owners, employees and residents.

As mentioned above 2 residents spoke against the new rates. It appears no one was surprised the Commission Chamber was empty, so once again you were told one side of the story— Mayor James and City Administrator side. Empty chamber should have been a heads up.

If you haven’t signed the petition to help our down town businesses and hospitality workers who depend on the generosity of patrons to enable them to pay rent and put food on the table and not into a parking meter here is one more opportunity.

https://www.change.org/p/city-of-west-palm-beach-increased-parking-rate-repeal/u/30506895

The end.