PARKING WARS PT. 3: WILL CITY APPROVE VALET PARKING PILOT PROGRAM?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

If Brownsville City Manager Helen Ramirez can convince a majority of the city commission tonight, she will launch a pilot program that would place her as the sole authority to provide valet parking to service downtown entertainment businesses by allowing them to use city-owned parking spaces in front of their business to provide the service to their customers.

The item is contained in the agenda of a regular meeting for today, April 16, 2024, at 5 p.m., in the City
Commission Chambers, located on the Second Floor of the Brownsville City Hall-Old Federal Building, located at 1001 East Elizabeth Street.

As stated in her agenda request, Ramirez said that her office "has received requests from downtown businesses that have experienced challenges with limited parking availability to implement a valet parking services ordinance.

"The City Manager's Office seeks authorization to create a pilot program, subject to administrative amendments, to maximize the use of the City's public assets, such as public sidewalks, streets, and rights-of-way, and private lots, for the purpose of providing valet parking service without impeding the needs of the local businesses or traffic"

Under Resolution 2024-0037, the city will acknowledge that the "city commission seeks to encourage tourism throughout the city by minimizing congestion and making parking more convenient to patrons visiting local establishments in Downtown Brownsville... (to establish) a pilot program for valet parking is necessary to protect health, life, and property and to preserve good government, order, and security of the city and its inhabitants."

Cutting to the chase, what Ramirez is proposing is that she be given a year to try a pilot program in downtown Brownsville that will allow local businesses to hire valets to park patrons' vehicles in as-yet-unspecified parking lots and bring them back when the customer is ready to leave.

The resolution also allows Ramirez, or her designee, to assess a one-time permit fee in an amount of up to $1,000 annually in order ($750 in the proposed program) to administer the pilot program. The City Manager is further authorized to administratively modify the pilot program in such a manner that is "fair and not capricious or arbitrary to the applicants."

Part of the application for valet parking license, as envisioned, shall contain the the names, addresses and telephone numbers of, the applicant and, if the applicant is a lessee, the name of the property owner, the independent contractor, if any, which will be used to provide the service.

Further, the application will contain the proposed location, a map showing the placement of any valet parking service stands and off-site valet parking. The map shall also include the placement of any traffic cones to be used, the number of spaces requested to be reserved for the service, each space being twenty-five (25) feet long, if parallel to the curb, or nine (9) feet wide, if head in to the curb; a minimum number of two (2) spaces must be reserved unless the city manager determines that because of special traffic conditions, a greater number of spaces is needed to operate the service efficiently.

It will also include the proposed hours and days of operation, the location of off-street parking and evidence of a signed agreement or other documentation showing that the applicant has a legal right to park vehicles at that off-street location, proof of insurance as required, and copies of written notification to all property owners or their representatives located within 100 feet of, on the same side of the street as, and within the same block as the site.

What the agenda packet doesn't say is whether Ramirez will be able to rent city-owned parking lots as off-site parking to rent to the businesses, and whether parking on those lots would be open to other residents during those times.