YCTA Votes to Oppose Davis Paid Parking Proposal

by Colin Walsh

Yesterday March 14^th the Yolo County Taxpayers Association (YCTA) weighed in on the Downtown Davis Parking Meter Issue with a resounding no thanks.

In Norton hall in the North West corner of Woodland, YCTA members from around the county weighed in on this hot Davis issue. Alzada Knickerbocker, owner of the Avid Reader, and Daniel Urazandi, owner of Bizarro World, made the case against the City of Davis’s proposal to convert a large part of downtown parking to meters.

The presenters noted the long hours 7 days a week Davis will require Downtown visitors to pay to park. The plan’s requiring payment from 10am to 10pm everyday including Sunday was highlighted as well outside the norm for most downtown paid parking schemes.

The case was clearly made that adding parking fees to downtown drivers’ burden was seen as a threat to the livelihood of Davis businesses. Both Knickerbocker and Urazandi described the wide-ranging opposition to paid parking among their patrons and other downtown businesses.

Davis Mayor Brett Lee arrived late to the meeting having come from another event and missed much of the discussion, but made a strong argument for implementing paid parking in Downtown Davis to generate a new revenue stream that the City could use for future parking improvements.

But Mayor Lee faced strong head winds within the YCTA and his arguments in favor of paid parking were met point by point with counter arguments. Mayor Lee was a good sport and seemed to recognize the inherent difficulty of selling a new fee to a taxpayer’s group.

After an hour and a half of discussion, the YCTA voted to oppose the City’s plan for paid parking in downtown. It was evident from the discussion that YCTA was open to general improvements in Davis parking, but saw the meter proposal as heavy handed.

Perhaps it is no surprise the YCTA voiced opposition to the parking meters since their website states that they oppose “Taxes disguised as assessments, excessive fees and charges;” and in discussion it seemed this is how members viewed the new parking fees.