Special to
El Rrun-Rrun
Commenter 1:
"I had a yen for a plate of camarones con nopalitos en chile rojo recently, and since this dish was usually associated with Easter, had to look high and low for a restaurant that served it during the rest of the year.
"I hit upon one, Cafe 911, where the old Lucio's Cafe on Washington Street used to be. But even after having found the place, I had to go two or three times around the two-block square area trying to find a parking place. No luck. The city public parking lot at the corner of 10th and Washington was full, as were the spaces along the downtown streets. With the clock ticking, I had to settle for driving to a Whataburger on International and forget about trying to eat downtown. I didn't get my desired meal, and the restaurant lost a customer."
Commenter 2:
"I had to go to try to get some fabric at El Conquistador on Washington between 12th and 13th streets for my wife and tried to get as close as I could to park. After circling the block two or three times, I gave up and ended up going to a craft shop on Morrison Road next to the Target store. No parking problems, and was in and out in minutes. Forget downtown!"
Multiply the experience of these two would-be downtown shoppers by 100 or more daily and the lack of accessible parking downtown emerges as one of the biggest obstacles to conduct commerce for businesses there. Throw in preferential parking for some city officials and their relatives, handicapped spaces, and broken parking kiosks, and the problems become glaringly obvious.
Parking downtown has been a headache for city officials and residents forever. But it's not just the crush of shoppers that creates the problem. It has been compounded by some factors that were self created by city officials.
Take, for example, the 375-plus free parking tags for selected city employees that allow them to use a parking space in the downtown area to attend to their employment and duties. Two years ago, former City Manager Helen Ramirez said the city had issued that many. Has that number increased since then?
With that many spaces taken from general use, the number of parking spaces available to the public is greatly reduced. Throw in the employees of downtown businesses who scurry out every few hours to renew their parking spaces and it also reduces the available parking spaces for the general public. Then, a number of parking lots is also reserved for city office workers and first responders and administrators in critical spaces in the downtown area.
And if you are lucky enough to find a space, be careful not to overextend your shopping because it will cost you a $10 parking ticket. And if you have friends in City Hall and happen to be an E-Bridge member or customer, you can get your ticket "validated" and park for free.
But it isn’t the same problem for everybody. City employees park free. City customers have free parking available. If you work for a small business downtown, you pay to park or find somewhere farther away.
If you’re a customer trying to spend money at a downtown business, you pay.
And when you look at how many government employees, buildings and customers are concentrated within just a few downtown blocks, the difference becomes hard to ignore.
More City-owned buildings and publicly supported facilities are now being used downtown, bringing more employees, customers and visitors into the same limited parking area. And according to information provided by Ramirez then, former employees aren’t required to return their parking tags and expired tags can remain outstanding.
So how many tags are actually out there today? Or, more importantly: How many convenient parking spaces does that leave for everyone else?
LOOK AT WHAT IS CONCENTRATED WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE
Start around City Hall and Market Square:
City Hall — 1001 E. Elizabeth
City Plaza — 1034 E. Levee
Market Square / City Market
Cameron County Levee Annex / Tax Office — 835 E. Levee
Dancy Courthouse — 1100 E. Monroe
Constantino Building — 1006 E. Monroe
Judicial Courthouse — 974 E. Harrison
District Attorney’s Office — 964 E. Harrison
Veterans Building — 1124 E. Madison
Elections Building — 1050 E. Madison
Detention Center No. 1 — 1145 E. Harrison
And just beyond that immediate cluster:
eBridge / BCIC / UTRGV — 1304 E. Adams
Visitor Center / Convention & Visitors Bureau — E. Adams
Brownsville Police Headquarters — 600 E. Jackson
City Engineering — 404 E. Washington
Brownsville Metro / downtown transit operations
Capitol Theatre — E. Levee
If you put those addresses on a map (above), a huge amount of government activity is concentrated within walking distance. A City employee can drive downtown, park free, leave the vehicle there and walk between nearby City and County buildings for meetings. That’s convenient. But the car doesn’t move.
No problem for city commissioner Gus de Leon finding a parking space close to the door of City Plaza either. Elected office carries its perks, among them the right to ignore the handicapped parking space designation. Those pampered handicapped can walk around him if they want to access City Plaza.
One City employee can occupy a parking space for most of the workday. On the other hand, a restaurant needs that space to turn over. So does a coffee shop, retailer, barber or professional office. One free employee parking space may serve one vehicle for eight hours. That same space could serve customer after customer at surrounding businesses.
And those customers are spending money downtown. That’s why parking turnover matters. Every parking space occupied for free by a City employee is a space that could otherwise generate parking revenue or serve paying customers throughout the day. Someone is giving up the value of that space.
Multiply that by the 375+ free City employee parking tags reported by the City Manager two years ago, and suddenly “free parking” has a real economic value. And we still don’t know how many additional tags have been issued since then.
On top of hundreds of free City employee parking tags and free parking available to City customers, look at the sign at eBridge: “PARKING TICKET VALIDATION ONLY FOR eBRIDGE MEMBERS.”
Government-owned and publicly supported operations clearly understand that free and convenient parking has value. It helps employees. It attracts customers. It removes a cost and makes a location more convenient. So what about the privately owned business next door?
Parking ticket fines are now $10. Even though the color of the tickets change periodically, if you manage to be lucky enough to find one, make sure you came back in time or you'll find one of these tags on your windshield. Unless, of course, you are a favored city employee, elected official, or eBridge member or client. If free parking is important enough for an eBridge member, why isn’t it important for the customer trying to spend money at the restaurant, coffee shop, retailer or professional office next door?
And taxpayers should also know: Who pays for those eBridge parking validations? Does eBridge pay?
Does BCIC pay? Does the City waive the charge? How much does it cost each year? Because once again: Free parking isn’t really free.
Remember, that number doesn’t include County employees. It doesn’t include University employees. It doesn’t include other publicly supported operations downtown.
Taxpayers deserve to know the value of the parking being provided free. How much potential parking revenue is being given up? How much is being spent or waived on parking validation?
How much business is being lost because customers can’t find convenient parking? Someone who needs to visit City Hall will probably keep looking for a space. Someone deciding where to eat lunch, shop, buy coffee or get a haircut doesn’t have to. They can take their money somewhere else. The parking meter doesn’t measure that loss. The small-business owner feels it at the cash register.
If you account for free city employee parking, free city customer parking, reserved government parking, County and University demand, and eBridge parking validation, then tell downtown businesses what’s actually left. Brownsville wants private businesses downtown. Those businesses pay rent, payroll, utilities, insurance and taxes. They invest their own money and take the financial risk every day they open their doors.
The City already understands that free and convenient parking helps attract customers and retain employees.
That’s why it provides it. eBridge understands the value, too. That’s why it validates parking for members. And downtown Brownsville’s small businesses are paying the biggest price.
