Board of Aldermen 5-21-2020 Page 50
President Wilshire
The motion is for final passage of Ordinance O-20-017. Discussion?
Alderwoman Kelly
If | could speak to it, please?
President Wilshire
Alderwoman Kelly.
Alderwoman Kelly
Thank you. So | mentioned it when we brought up the 15 minute, but the idea here and what | had the
Legal Department draft up is something very similar to Holliday Parking. | spoke to a number of businesses
downtown, they are struggling. We are all struggling. But one of the points that was made to me that |
thought was really poignant that even with the things that we are doing, allowing expanded, they may only
recruit 20 to 50% of all sales over the next few months. So anything we can do to continue to make sure
that they are prioritized for people, I’ve been in the downtown business community for a number of years
now and consistently people say, “OH | go to Amherst Street because it’s free parking”.
So my intent here was to make sure that we can keep the downtown vibrant and offer a little bit of relief.
It’s not a long-term thing, | understand that there is a parking study going on and | want to make sure that
we do that study and have some really solid answers. But | think as an interim step say to the community,
“We understand you are struggling and we want to help you”. This does achieve that.
President Wilshire
OK, Alderman Dowd?
Alderman Dowd
Yes, | think with all the changes we have done to Main Street, you know, we are already losing a lot of
parking of revenue. As Chairman of Budget, | don’t want to lose anymore revenue than we are already
losing. We can’t afford it. And if we don’t charge for the parking that’s not taken up by the changes that we
just approved then either residents that live down there or store owners are going to park there all day long
and not pay anything. | think that for those parking spaces that are left, that we should retain the parking
fee.
Alderwoman Kelly
Alderman Wilshire if | could respond.
President Wilshire
Alderwoman Kelly.
Alderwoman Kelly
Just a clarification, it’s just like Holiday. So your time limits are still enforced, your overnight parking is still
enforced so we are not going to have people parking there all day long with no recourse there.
