Dear City Council,
I’m writing about my discontent with the downtown development project. I don’t think the RFQs are defined enough for parking, and therefore the builders are not putting any “teeth” or real solutions into their plans to solve that problem. There is not a clear source of funding and I do not think this would be fair to fall on taxpayer money, particularly because the majority of taxpayers are not in favor of the project. The parking needs have been repeatedly under prioritized - to make this development work, there needs to be all the parking we had plus some for the hundreds of new tenants that we not have to support.
Downtown is finally starting to turn bright and I am increasingly worried that the downtown development project will scare away and reverse to positive trend that has taken hold. We need parking for these businesses to grow and thrive, this is not the time to be cavalier about these important structural needs of the city. Builders aren’t going to shoot themselves in the foot by making more parking than they are required to - it is up to the city to have strict RFQs to better lead the builders to see if there’s a feasible plan. I do not actually think there is a feasible plan with the amount of parking we need downtown, and believe the sooner we get to that conclusion, the sooner we can identify all the better locations without grave parking concerns there are.
Thank you for your time.
Chrissy Bertolli
