Downtowndavis.org and Downtown Parking

Local businesses want parking.

By Colin Walsh

A new organization is growing in Davis. A group that is feeling shut out of Downtown planning. They are not your typical old Davis activists accused of protesting everything instead they are at the very heart of the downtown economy – Davis business owners. You can find them at downtowndavis.org

The website makes it clear what has this new group rising, "STOP PAID PARKING," and "ACT NOW."

Downtowndavis.org is hosting a survey that is very different than the one the City of Davis has been promoting with questions about how we actually use and access downtown. It also asks very directly about opinions of paid parking. You can take the survey at http://downtowndavis.org/survey/.

downtowndavis.org was founded in early 2018 by Daniel Urazandi of Bizarro World and Brett Maresca of Boheme. Urazandi states that the organization was formed, "to respond to the City's vote of Nov. 7 2017 to install parking meters throughout downtown." This vote marked a major shift in Davis's approach to parking downtown.

Other early members include Jennifer Anderson of Ace Hardware and Dave Brooks of Volleys Tennis Shop. Anderson's business is the largest downtown retail business and one of the oldest businesses in Davis.

Davis Ace has already created a new parking lot to help address the situation, but no business in Downtown has a more clear-cut need for parking than Davis Ace. Just compare the small new lot on 3rd street to the massive free lots at their big box chain competitors at Home Depot and Target.

Urazandi further reports that DowntownDavis.org “now represents over 50 downtown businesses,” and points out that, “the fact that we had to organize ourselves speaks to our lack of representation or consideration of our viewpoint in the city's planning process.”