West Volusia's community newspaper of DeLand, Orange City, Deltona, DeBary, Lake Helen, DeLeon Springs, Glenwood, Pierson, Cassadaga, Seville and Barberville in Florida.
Lagrave Travel
July 05, 2008
First Assembly DeLand
Featured Commentary
Parking: Now’s a great time to do nothing

posted Jun 18, 2008 - 12:10:18pm

What the City of DeLand should do about Downtown parking is perhaps the hardest thing for a government to do: nothing.

Splitting the $100,000 cost with Volusia County, DeLand is paying about $50,000 for a consultant to study Downtown DeLand’s parking. So far, the study has revealed there are about 1,000 more parking spaces than will be needed for the next several years.

So, there’s no urgent need to take action. Yet, commissioners told the consultant to formulate a plan to bring back parking meters and install kiosks where motorists could buy parking credits.

This new equipment would cost quite a few tax dollars. Now is definitely not the time to spend tax money if it can be avoided — and it can! The nation’s economy is possibly already in a recession, local taxpayers and businesses are hurting, and the City of DeLand, like most governments across the state, is complaining about necessary cutbacks.

This is a bad time to waste tax dollars on avoidable spending. And it’s a terrible time to spend money on changes that might actually worsen the Downtown DeLand economy, even while improving city government’s income.

Yes, city commissioners may say, but we’ve spent $50,000 on a study; do we want to put it on a shelf? That kind of thinking leads governments, as well as businesses and individuals, into throwing good money after bad: “We’ve already spent blank dollars; we have to spend blank blank dollars more, to keep the first expenditure from having been a waste.”

If commissioners insist on looking at things that way, let them conclude the consultant’s study was not in vain. We learned from it. We learned, at least, we have 1,000 more parking spaces than we currently need.

And, there’s nothing to prevent more of the study from being used in the future — at a time when the Downtown DeLand economy is stronger, and the need to make changes is more critical.

One might reasonably inquire what got concern about parking going in the first place, this time. Was it a groundswell of demand from shoppers, merchants and government employees? No. There has been some grumbling about how hard it is to find a parking place, but that’s nothing new. There’s hardly a crisis.

No, what is probably the biggest worry on the part of DeLand officials is the need to reduce or eliminate a deficit in the parking-enforcement budget!

The city spends about $124,000 a year on parking enforcement, including $113,170 for two workers: the guy who goes around putting chalk marks on parkers’ tires (and gives them tickets if they overstay the time limits), and the bureaucrat whose job includes, among other duties, supervising that one car-tire marker.

However, the city only takes in about $90,000 a year in parking-ticket fines. Which means there’s an annual deficit in the parking-enforcement budget. That’s probably the biggest reason city officials are feverishly trying to come up with a solution to the “parking problem.” That’s why they’ve spent $50,000 on a consultant, and why they’re tempted to spend hundreds of thousands more to turn Downtown DeLand parking back into a revenue source.

Better to scrutinize that budget than to waste even more tax dollars on schemes that are not only unnecessary, but may deliver another blow to already-struggling merchants.



Reader Comments

The comments posted below are posted by readers, not by The Beacon staff. These comments express the views and opinions of the authors, and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster. The comments forum is governed by these rules. Please use the report abuse link if you find offensive comments.

Geno | posted Jun 26, 2008 - 10:12:14am
Doesn't any of our government officials have any brains? Everything that's done in DeLand has to have a "Consultant" cost Usually at a cost of 50 to 100 thousand dollars Plus.I mean isn't parking common sense? I believe that Ms. Taylors Salary was between 40 and 60 Thousand dollars a year plus benefits. No one has mentioned that.
foodtradellc | posted Jun 25, 2008 - 11:26:31am
who wrote this ????
Claire Preston | posted Jun 22, 2008 - 1:22:34pm
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Intec

http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~mireille/

KAREN | posted Jun 19, 2008 - 10:22:41pm
The Parking Fee Kiosks that Deland may consider is one bad idea. People that have limited ability to walk WILL have a bad time walking to the kiosk and then walking back and placing the purchased ticket on the dashboard and then shopping would be a hardship. There are many people without handicap permits that have trouble walking. Please no meter kiosks in deland or Volusia County for that matter.

The biggest traffic money makers for any city are "red light runners" and "speeders" go after those people. They are already breaking the law.



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