Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / Paid Parking Returns Downtown Oct. 5
Transcript
- Rick Outzen: The new Polo Fox project is finished. on October 5th, paid parking's coming back to downtown Pensacola. We've got a little time to go over all the rules for you. There's some changes, some pretty nice changes ⁓ are being made. We've got with us Lisa Dees, ⁓ and constituent services director for the city. ⁓ you for joining us. Thanks for having ⁓ You know, this is, you know, we've gone nine months without having to pay for parking. Why it back now? Lissa Dees: For me. Well, as you know, it was a courtesy for during the construction period and as the construction wraps up as you open the segment with, construction wraps up, we'll go back to managed parking. So, you all all good come to an come to an end. Well it's but we're better though. Rick Outzen: We are. Well, I think you are. ⁓ Let's talk a let's talk a little bit ⁓ just some of the real quick changes. ⁓ let's talk about the new rate. Lissa Dees: So the rates will stay the same except for on Friday night and Saturdays, which is where we saw the highest you know, occupancy. So supply and demand. When your demand is high, rates go up a little bit. So we'll see dollar seventy pending council approval on Thursday. I don't when this is gonna ⁓ Rick Outzen: We'll be old Friday, but this Thursday. Lissa Dees: Yeah, on this Thursday twenty fourth. Correct. Pending their approval, the rates will go into effect October fifth when park when managed parking comes back. Rick Outzen: Well, and the point and the mayor does a great job of bringing it up is that you want spaces to turn over, that that by charging for the space that's closest to the businesses, it allows the space to to come open and available for more customers to be able to take ⁓ advantage of it, Lissa Dees: That's correct. So the whole goal of managed parking is so that we can provide safe, reliable parking to as many people as possible. not just be dominated by, you know, the person that shows up. Right. Eight o'clock in the morning. ⁓ Rick Outzen: Well yeah, right. That's that and we and I've seen that happen in the time that we've had the free parking. Th but there's gonna be a free day now. Y'all added another free day for parking. Lissa Dees: Yes, in addition to Sundays being free and federal holidays being free and about sixty percent of the city's parking being free all the time, we're also to counsel that Mondays are free. Rick Outzen: the motto is that ⁓ city parking ⁓ made easier. How's it being made easier? Lissa Dees: Well, lots of education. if if you don't know about this, it's because you you didn't want to know 'cause we've got billboards, we've got commercials, we're doing this, we've got print ads. so education is really, really big for us. ⁓ We've we've had lots in the downtown area for about ten years now and just trying to educate the the public on those are red signs, green signs. Rick Outzen: the red side. They will boot you the red zone. The green zone. I I always point to people when they're trying to find a spot ⁓ if there's a city parking space on the street right beside I said, ⁓ is a much better deal. Yes. It Lissa Dees: It is. education is is really big for us. ⁓ we've got new signs that are coming out. So if I it all the time, I'm so scared to come downtown because I don't know the difference between a private lot and city parking. So we've made our signs different and we with a company out of Amsterdam and I didn't know there's a whole science behind signs, but this company that's all they do is the science behind signs. So we've designed a sign that's very identifiable and I mess these words up all the time. for the two digit zones. I have to say that very clear very slowly. but city parking is always two digits. So if you pull up your app and you see four or five numbers in that zone, that's not city parking. Rick Outzen: Cool hint. I hadn't I hadn't thought about that. you've got there's a senior citizen discount and there's also a local resident ⁓ discount. about those and how those work. Lissa Dees: So the senior pass is actually a it's a permit. So you sign up one time as long as you're sixty five or older. Doesn't matter where you live, sixty five or older, you sign up one time and you get it for a month, you can get it for three months, you can get it for a year, keep it long as you like. ⁓ Rick Outzen: And if it's a it's a mu how much is it is it's a one month Lissa Dees: Ten dollars a month, yes sir. And then you just come and park in a city spot. You don't have to do anything. Has your tag number. Rick Outzen: So it has your tag. So that when your people walk around and look at it they can s check the tag and you're already taken care of. Yes, sir. ⁓ and you don't have to be a Pensacola for that. Lissa Dees: You don't? five qualifies you. All right. Rick Outzen: There. Yeah. Lissa Dees: Local resident is a little bit different. You still have to start a parking session. You just get a discount on all of your parking through park mobile. So we have a a set up with them. You enter same concept, you enter in your tag number in the resident discount. And they see that tag number on your app, now if you have multiple cars on your app like I do, make sure it's the one that you right you permitted. But as long as you pull up that tag, it's gonna see that you're a a city resident. It's gonna give you a seventy five cent an hour rate, regardless of where you park downtown. Go to parkpensacola dot com and click on the permit page. Okay. Rick Outzen: How do sign up for these? Okay. And then for the senior citizen do you have to go through the city at the city website or is that done the same way? Lissa Dees: You it's done the same way. We actually have it's all all the information is on the city website. Okay. But just pushes you over to the Park Pensacola website. So you can save a click and just go to parkpensacola.com. Yeah. Click on permit. Rick Outzen: Yeah, another change is going on with Jefferson Street parking garage. That y'all've made that much easier. Lissa Dees: We're still working on that one, so I just want to make sure everybody's clear about that. the cameras have been installed, so we're making progress. ⁓ unfortunately won't roll out on October fifth with the other stuff, but it's a ⁓ amenity the Jefferson Street Garage. So if you park in that garage all the time, you sign up with your park mobile app, you select express pay. It's just one extra click, select express pay, drive in. It captures your tag. You drive out, it captures your tag and it just bills you. So you don't have to bring out your phone, you don't have to go to a PlayStation, you don't have to do anything. You just pull into the garage and then pull out, you're done. Rick Outzen: great. I know. I mean it's great how the technology's improved so much from when we s we started this. ⁓ you know, you can do you've got an app, you've got the text, you can go to a Pay station. Which one's easiest? If someone's coming new to the city and they want they know they to they're gonna be coming downtown on a regular basis, what's the best way for them to do this? Lissa Dees: If you're new and you're gonna be coming downtown on a regular basis, a sign for the app. Park Pen Mobile. Get app. It's you sign up, it's it's easy. Once, you know, you sign up, it takes a little bit of time. I always recommend do that before you come downtown. Don't wait till you're trying to find a parking space and ⁓ showing up, you know, ten before your Sanger event starts or whatever and then trying to figure out how to download an app. Download it while you're at home. Then when you come downtown, it's it's two seconds to select that. tag and select your zone and you're done. you're just visiting and not gonna stay here for a long time, you can a couple of coins in a pay station or ⁓ a dollar the pay station and that's probably gonna be used and you don't have to download an app. Right. But if you're here all the time and you're staying, which I highly recommend everybody ⁓ come and stay. a great place to live. Rick Outzen: it's also you know, in other towns, you know, Park Mobile's there also. So it really w it it transfers to other places. The rates will be different depending on where you're at, but ⁓ it does work that way. The ⁓ know, in looking at it it is what happens to money? How's this why is this money important ⁓ to taxpayers? Lissa Dees: Well, one, it's not a tax, it's a user fee. That's that's the that we try to explain all the time is it's a user fee and all of the money is reinvested back into the downtown area. ⁓ So last we had trolley service that ran or before paid parking went free, we had a trolley service that ran that was free. It ran on Friday and Saturday nights, that was paid for by the parking funds. all your repairs, maintenance, ⁓ upkeep, elevators, cleaning, of ⁓ Rick Outzen: We're running we're g running out of time. It's always going so fast. It does go fast. But but let's talk there is a grace period. Let's let's talk about that before we go. Lissa Dees: It's all reinvested. There is a So October fifth, we're assuming you've had ten months of free parking, everyone's not gonna remember, even though we have sign and signage and we've done a lot of media and marketing on it. have a warning program. So your first ticket will be a warning, just a reminder. ⁓ second will probably also be a reminder and by the time we get to your third or fourth, fourth, ⁓ figure y this not on you know, it's not an accident anymore. ⁓ Rick Outzen: right, right. ⁓ you know, Lisa, I appreciate you so much coming on and doing this. ⁓ is it's Pensacola.com is the website. It is it easy to to find out what doing. They show you how they're spending the money, they show you all the different pieces to this, and you can go there if you don't remember this show, can go back there again ⁓ and catch up and get the Lissa Dees: Parkmanscola.com. Rick Outzen: But it is it's how we ⁓ downtown is how we keep downtown moving the way that it needs to move, and it pays for keeping downtown safe. So all those are part of what we're doing now. ⁓ We'll go and take our break, pay a few bills, I'll be right back. I'm Rick Altson. This is Rick's blog live.