The Municipal Services Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved the elimination of the 90-minute free parking period for all city-owned parking structures within Pasadena.
The move is seen to bring in more revenues, which the transportation department plans to use for needed repairs and upgrades on all the nine parking structures of the city and to cover increasing cost of expenses for the maintenance of the city’s parking spaces.
The transportation department’s proposal recommends charging $1 for the first 2 hours and $2 for each subsequent hour for parking, with a daily maximum parking rate of $12, starting July 1, 2022.
The City owns nine parking garages located throughout the Civic Center and Old Pasadena areas.
The daily maximum rate would be applied not only to the garages that currently offer 90 minutes of free parking (namely Marriott Garage, Schoolhouse Block Garage, De Lacey Garage and Del Mar Station Garage) but to all other city parking facilities with the exception of the Plaza Las Fuentes garage, where the daily rate is $19.
“Anything we do that doesn’t move us more towards the market is a subsidy,” said City Manager Steve Mermell.
He continued: “There was a time that the city could afford that. We can’t really afford to do it anymore because we need significant reinvestment in these parking structures or they are going to fail and we won’t be able to use them.”
During the meeting, Jon Hamblen, City Parking Manager said because of the 90 minutes free parking, approximately 55 percent of the transactions in the Del Mar Station and Old Pasadena garages are free.
He also mentioned that garage rates have remained flat over the past 20 years while expenses have increased at 3 percent for every year since 2001.
According to Hamblen, the proposed rate structure is “negligible” and “extremely affordable.” He added that the rates are also still below the rates being charged by other cities for parking.
“Any period of free parking is a subsidy. And there really is no such thing — as we say in the parking industry all the time — there is no such thing as ‘free parking.’ Somebody has to pay the bill at the end of day.”
“We felt this was a good opportunity to push for the elimination of that 90-minute free parking to get our citizens used to the concept of paying for parking,” Hamblen said.
According to Hamblen, the recommended changes are expected to bring an estimated $2.9 million in additional revenue per year.
Councilmember Tyron Hampton, during the meeting urged the staff to study the possibility of offering discounted rates for Pasadena residents as he expressed concern that the elimination of free parking will discourage them from patronizing local businesses.
“There are a lot of places now that have duplicated our structure at Old Pasadena. You can go to Glendale and you can park for free,” Hampton said. “I just think that if we have a resident rate, it would be an incentive for our residents to continue to patronize local businesses.”
Councilmember Felicia Williams and Vice Mayor Andy Wilson meanwhile asked the staff to consider providing a “grace period” of 20 to 30 minutes to people for loading and unloading.
Hamblen vowed to look at the suggestions of the councilmembers.
He added that the city staff is now preparing for a parking strategic plan that will address the demand for shorter-term parking.
“We do get rid of that 90 minute free and people are looking for shorter-term parking.”
“That is something the parking strategic plan is going to help us address.”
The transportation department will submit the parking strategic plan to the Municipal Services Committee before spring, according to Hamblen.
Meanwhile, in the same meeting, the Municipal Services Committee also approved the transportation department’s recommendation for the city to enter into a three-year contract worth $9,028,819 with Parking Concepts Inc. for the management, operation and maintenance of all the nine city-owned parking structures.
Currently, the parking garages are being operated by three separated contracted vendors.
The proposal to award the contract to a single garage operator is seen to reduce expenses for the operation of the garages by $2 million per year and increase operational efficiencies, according to city staff.
Get our daily Pasadena newspaper in your email box. Free.
Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.
7 thoughts on “City Committee Votes to Eliminate 90-Minute Free Parking in Pasadena’s Public Parking Structures”
Keep the 90 minute free parking it’s a God sent.
I don’t mind stopping to shop in the stores & eat in
the restaurants. I find I spend more time and buy more.
This means if someone wants to run in for a coffee, some Dots cupcakes, to pick-up a takeaway order, it will now cost a $1.00 to park for 10-15 minutes. Business owners must be thrilled?. There has to be a way to provide for those quick in and outs given street parking is almost non-existent.
lol just means I won’t be going there for meals and I’ll spend my money elsewhere.
Yes the city might make more in parking revenues but at the expense of hurting the businesses and tax revenues.
Are you kidding me!! I’ve lived here for over 25 years, these spots are a lifesaver for people going to old pasadena. Street parking isn’t expensive but it’s so hard to find convenient spots. Just keep making it harder for regular people to live here I guess. I know it’s not the end of the world but jeez. Little inconveniences like this multiplied over and over again just suck.
I don’t shop or eat in Pasadena for the cities greed.
How come most surrounding cities don’t charge for parking?
Thanks for the heads up.
I’ll be parking and shopping elsewhere.
Have a nice day.
James.
No one in the city mentions the income they make on charging the Landlords in Old Pasadena parking credits 2 X per year, based upon the retail and office uses in their buildings, which most Old Pasadena landlords pass on to their tenants for reimbursement. I thought these parking credit charges add up to a significant amount to help maintain the parking structures in Old Pasadena. How much money total does the city of Pasadena make on these charges per year?