2026-09-28 - Finance Committee

00:05[music]

00:13All right. So, good afternoon. I'm Zana

00:15Goan, city council, chairman,

00:17chairperson of the finance committee.

00:19I'm going to um start this finance

00:22committee meeting at 4:04 today on

00:24Monday,

00:26September 28th, I believe. Yes.

00:31Um so I want to thank everyone for being

00:33here and recognize councelor um Lavar

00:36Bruce who's here and if I'm missing

00:39anybody and then I know that um

00:45>> is here. Um, thank you Tim for being

00:48here in person and you have a

00:50presentation for us. Okay, great.

00:52>> J Jason will take over. Uh, I I did

00:55provide a little bit of background uh

00:57during the city council meeting and uh

00:59Sarah and others who have been part of

01:01it, they understand how we got here. Uh,

01:04so I would like Jason to start and we'll

01:07have an opportunity afterwards to ask

01:09questions.

01:10>> Okay.

01:13>> And I think I'm off of mute. And does

01:15everybody see the screen?

01:17>> We can hear you. Yes.

01:18>> Great. All right. I'm just going to run

01:21through what is a lot of content

01:23relatively quickly and be happy to go

01:25back into any one of these slides at any

01:27point in time. Um there's a lot of

01:30little weeds on the inventory and

01:33utilization of parking and Springfield.

01:35I'll run through quickly as well as what

01:37that means for revenue. And then we do

01:40have a couple suggestions uh corrections

01:42and adjustments that we want to talk

01:44about that are backed up by some of your

01:46peers. I think the primary takeaway from

01:50any of this work is that overall the

01:53we're talking about solutions that are

01:56going to make the operation of enforcing

02:00and running the parking system actually

02:02a little bit simpler, a little bit less

02:04labor intensive. use something that is a

02:07tiered pricing system that's going to

02:08hopefully create the availability that

02:10is lacking in key parts of downtown and

02:13overall make the system be more focused

02:16on the carrot of pricing as opposed to

02:18the stick of enforcement. We suspect, as

02:22we've seen in other places that have

02:23done that, makes things a little bit

02:26easier to find a parking space. Makes it

02:28more encourageable to go and hunt for

02:31parking that's a little bit more remote

02:33because it's actually now a better deal

02:35where it isn't today. And in particular,

02:38we see there's some spin-off revenues

02:40that can go to hopefully a um some form

02:45of body that works through the parking

02:47benefit district legislation in the

02:49state of Massachusetts with local

02:50businesses to maybe be able to help

02:53designate that fund for those funds for

02:55local improvements to make it a little

02:56bit safer to walk around. Um this type

02:59of suggestion would also apply for off-

03:01streetet parking and hopefully help to

03:04fix some of the SPA's finances. There's

03:06a lot of deferred maintenance and

03:08revenue in its garages. As you may know,

03:10our study was really there focused on

03:13the visitor behavior to understand how

03:15the parking was used with a goal of

03:18trying to create availability for

03:21customers in particular. Um, lots of

03:23complaints about not finding parking.

03:24Yet, we all know there's plenty of

03:26places where you can, just not at the

03:27front door. How can you do that? Well,

03:30you need to probably do a system that

03:32will also benefit the bottom line by

03:35increasing revenues, and that's really

03:36needed in the end. The SPA is far behind

03:39its peers, far behind where the market

03:41should be, and certainly not in a state

03:44of good repair with terms of its costs

03:46relative to the revenues that it

03:48collects. So, a brief overview, like I

03:51said, of what's out there. There's

03:5312,000 spaces in this downtown study

03:56area. That's on and off strike street.

04:00Um only about 4,000 of those or a third

04:03are actually under public control. The

04:04rest are private, mostly off streetet.

04:06Of course, a little less than a thousand

04:08on street spaces in the study area. In

04:11the evening, um all that parking or all

04:14the on street parking goes to free. Um

04:17but the off- streetet parking remains

04:20priced. Um and that is true also on the

04:24weekends u particular some lots become

04:27less available on the weekends but

04:28overall demand is lower on the weekends

04:30so that's not a major impact so demand

04:33for spa facilities in particular

04:36something we could look at very in

04:38detailed fashion through combination of

04:41aerials and other data that we have as

04:43well as the very detailed revenue data

04:46from the spa we're able to figure out

04:48utilization percentages across the

04:50downtown. As you can see here on this

04:52map, there's a few areas mostly near

04:55Maine and Boland and on Court Street

04:57where overall average daily utilization

05:00gets to be fairly high averaging 77%

05:03which means at some points of the day

05:05it's maybe very full and other points of

05:07the day less than that.

05:10>> Why? I just called your ass again and

05:12you don't pick up the

05:15>> counselor. Counselor counselor

05:18>> this number back again. Counselor,

05:20>> sorry.

05:21>> Can you mute your umelves, please?

05:23>> I think you just muted. There we go.

05:29[laughter]

05:32>> Um, [clears throat] I'll march along.

05:34>> Okay.

05:35>> There's um a little less utilization the

05:38further you get away from that crunchy

05:39core. Um, we're averaging around 64%

05:41around Worthington Street in that little

05:43restaurant entertainment district, but

05:44then it just drops off around there.

05:46less than half utilized on average

05:48throughout the day. And then as soon as

05:50you get to more remote facilities,

05:52Chestnut and Dwight, Liberty over by the

05:54train station drops off significantly.

05:56The overall utilization, the daily

05:58utilization rate for all these spaces is

06:01only 39%. Um, an ideal system would be

06:04closer to 85%. So you may not be able to

06:06get that at every hour of the day, but

06:08right now you're barely able to get that

06:10even during one hour of the day overall.

06:13So it's definitely an issue. Um, off

06:15streetet is a similar picture. The I91

06:18South garage is fairly well utilized.

06:22Certainly, there may be some points in

06:24the day where it's above this average.

06:25>> Parking lot.

06:27>> Yeah, it's it's closer down to the

06:29courthouse, exactly by city hall. The

06:31north garage right on the other side of

06:32Bowlan, also underneath I 91 is half

06:36that. And then as soon as you get to

06:38other facilities, Columbus, Morgan

06:41Square, Union Station, they're all

06:43around a third.

06:46>> Taylor Street's used. Okay. That's

06:48because there's a lot of residential

06:49permits sold in there.

06:51>> So overall, this is really low

06:52utilization of a lot of asset that's in

06:54the downtown. What does that mean?

06:57>> Little square, Taylor Street, I think.

06:59Oh, I can't see that good. So, it's like

07:02that's terrible.

07:03>> And that's so high because so many of

07:05the apartments that surround it use that

07:08as their primary park.

07:09>> Oh, okay.

07:10>> Right.

07:11>> Can Can they buy a pass for that or

07:12>> They get a monthly

07:14connect apartment buildings.

07:16>> Oh, okay.

07:17>> Yeah. They're they're the um in the

07:20middle of this row. This is a all of the

07:22current revenues that come in. And we're

07:24showing you in light blue the permit

07:26revenues. As you can see in that garage,

07:28the Taylor Street garage, it makes like

07:3180 90% of its revenue off of just those

07:34regulars. But that's sort of true almost

07:36everywhere other than Union Station.

07:38There's some good level of transient at

07:39Union Station due to Amtrak. Everything

07:41else um is really just permit goers. And

07:44that means you're kind of just relying

07:47on what you'd like to keep as a as a

07:49steady market. Um but not a lot of

07:51transients are going into those garages.

07:53There's not a lot of incentive because

07:55there's a ton of street parking that's

07:56cheaper and that's one of the problems

07:59as well. But meanwhile on street

08:02people can go

08:04>> counselor text

08:07>> on street parking [laughter]

08:13>> um on street parking can be something

08:15that people want to use as a primary

08:18parking when it's cheaper. that even

08:20there it's about 20% of the overall

08:25public supply but it's only 9% of the

08:28overall public revenue. So you guys are

08:32in this position where you're making on

08:34a per space basis barely more than

08:38Northampton and significantly less than

08:43Hartford, Connecticut and even West

08:46Hartford, a really small city outside of

08:48there. These are some of the comps that

08:50we had. So, you know, that revenue

08:53stream we know could just be a lot more.

08:56>> Um, you know, you're you're at a quarter

08:58of what Hartford is bringing in on its

08:59parking system, and you're definitely

09:01more than a quarter of Hartford's size.

09:04One of the issues is this. Again, we

09:06talk about how maybe people could be

09:08using the carrot, but you guys have to

09:10use the stick. There's a lot of

09:12enforcement revenue that's going on.

09:14that small on street revenue that I

09:16pointed out doesn't really make up a

09:18good ratio at all compared to

09:20enforcement revenue. Typically, you're

09:23in a good healthy system, it's actually

09:262:1 fee revenue to enforcement revenue,

09:29and you're one to five the other way

09:31around. So, it's a it's a punitive

09:34system to be able to try to get people

09:35to do the right thing in Springfield

09:37largely because the rates have been kept

09:39so low. So this stacks up all this is a

09:42quick summary all that stuff. You know

09:44there's a an over supply of certain

09:46parking. We know there's not

09:47availability in some areas but there's

09:49tons of availability in a lot of other

09:51areas. And you know it's a very labor

09:54intensive enforcement thing. And in the

09:56end one of the bottom line things we're

09:58always worried about is the vitality of

10:00the downtown. And definitely there's a

10:02lot of frustration um about being about

10:06parking remotely. If somebody goes to

10:07park remotely now, which would be a way

10:10to free up the core, there's no benefit

10:12to them. They have to pay just as much.

10:14They have to walk a little bit further

10:15and therefore may be more threatened by

10:17getting a time limit ticket. And the

10:19environment that they're walking in is

10:20often discouraging them from doing that.

10:22So, we want to think about how can we

10:24change things. All right. So, any

10:27questions about existing conditions? I

10:29can go back to any of that data.

10:30Otherwise, I'm happy to jump into our

10:32suggestions.

10:35>> Okay. I also want to acknowledge um city

10:39council president

10:41uh Whitfield here and council Davila. Do

10:45are there any questions or any comments

10:47at this time?

10:50Don't see any hands.

10:54Okay, you can continue.

10:56>> Certainly feel free to interrupt me.

10:58>> Okay,

10:59>> so today downtown Springfield on street

11:03everything is 50 cents an hour. period

11:05and only during business hours. So all

11:09of a sudden at 6 p.m. it's a

11:10free-for-all and everybody can park

11:12wherever they want. Um that type of a

11:15system doesn't, as I already mentioned,

11:18reward you for doing the right thing,

11:19which is parking away and freeing up the

11:21core. We've tested here with Bul's data

11:26a tiered pricing system. This involves

11:30very high value spaces going up to as

11:32high as a buck 50. Others that are

11:35typically 50 cents being a dollar an

11:38hour. Still others in the lower demand

11:40area staying at 50 cents. And then

11:43others still being completely removed

11:45from the pricing system. There's just

11:47not enough demand to warrant it and give

11:49back to people z parking if they want

11:52it. The primary thing to make this work

11:56well and comfortably is to stop chasing

11:58people around on time limits and just

12:00let the price dictate how long they

12:02stay, how much they're willing to pay.

12:05Somebody wants to pay a buck 50 an hour

12:07all day long to stay right out front,

12:09let them. But if they're really price

12:10sensitive, they'll go a little bit

12:12further away to a cheaper space. And

12:13that's exactly what you want them to do

12:15is free up those prime spaces. So, we

12:19know there's this $30 plus,000 gap we're

12:21trying to make up. The system of tiered

12:24pricing has been something that

12:26Northampton has done very successfully.

12:30>> Um, you should be making over $50,000 a

12:34month on street at an ideal utilization

12:37rate and you're currently making about

12:3921.

12:40>> Okay.

12:41>> So, I don't expect you'll make up 30,000

12:43through this plan. We were only thinking

12:45you're going to make up maybe 10 if

12:46you're lucky.

12:47But over time, that's kind of where

12:50things can go if you see increased

12:52activity in downtown. And that's sort of

12:54the story of some of these other places.

12:56Northampton had learned that several

12:58years ago, so they have tiered pricing.

13:00It's actually four times more expensive

13:02to park on their main street than it is

13:03to park remotely. Ammerst has rates like

13:06that, two times higher on the core is in

13:09the garage and the remote streets. Even

13:11little tiny Greenfield has had this in

13:14place for a number of years. Kitsfield

13:16has had it for a decade where you price

13:18in the main and free in the lots. And so

13:21this idea applied to Springfield based

13:24on those utilization patterns would say

13:26that some of the core areas as I

13:28mentioned earlier on Maine near Boland

13:32Court. Um we're even suggesting adding

13:33us some meters on Pinch Street. Those

13:35would be the areas where you'd charge

13:37that higher price. Yes, close to city

13:38hall, close to where there's a lot of

13:40demand. That's where a buck 50 an hour

13:42might make sense. But as soon as you

13:44get, you know, a block away, we're

13:46saying those spaces could only be a

13:48dollar an hour. And as you can see, you

13:50already get to as soon as you get to

13:51Dwight and Chestnut, we're already

13:53talking about getting it back down to

13:55the 50 cents. And those are areas where

13:57you want people who are going to park

13:58longer to go save a buck and park in

14:01those areas and not have a time limit

14:03restriction or at least a longer time

14:05limit restriction. So, they'll do just

14:06that. But then you'll notice there's

14:08other areas here outlined in black that

14:10are just removed from the pricing

14:12system. There's just no reason to be

14:14charging there. Bag the meters, pull

14:16them out, use the equipment for

14:18something else. We've actually taken

14:20about 95 on street spaces out of the

14:23pricing system. We did add 11 more in

14:25that core on pinchion in that area, but

14:27basically it's a it's a net reduction of

14:3080 or so spaces from the pricing system,

14:33but that drives up the revenue in this

14:37model a little over $7,000 or so on a

14:40monthly basis and and increases what we

14:42expect to be the overall utilization.

14:44This is sort of a conservative take on

14:46it. We didn't extend the pricing hours.

14:48you should they should go until 8:00

14:50p.m. not just 6:00 p.m. at least Friday,

14:52Saturday nights, if not every night of

14:54the week. Um, many places don't even

14:56price as early as 9:00 a.m. because

14:58there's not enough demand. So, the whole

15:00goal is to respond to and focus on

15:03utilization patterns for actual on

15:06street parking. Um, before you get into

15:08the off street,

15:09>> I'm sorry, Jason, hold on. Can you can

15:11you just come back? We've spent a lot of

15:13time with this information, but the

15:15counselors haven't. I just want to be

15:17clear that the 95 spaces that you're t

15:19saying are coming out of the pricing

15:21system that is those spaces would then

15:24become available for free parking in the

15:26downtown.

15:28>> Correct.

15:31>> Those would be spaces as we're showing

15:32here sort of the northern and southern

15:34ends of Dwight and Chestnut outer

15:38portions of Taylor and Lyman

15:40>> and Taylor.

15:42>> Yeah.

15:43And and just to add to what Jason is

15:45saying again, Tim, thank you for that

15:46because we spoke so many times. We have

15:48it all in our head, but you haven't had

15:50the opportunity to sit through. Jason is

15:52also saying, look, some of the places

15:55that are already busy, yes, you raise

15:57the rate, but if you go to uh Dwight,

16:00for example, and you keep it at 50 and

16:03let him park for four hours, six hours

16:05even, right?

16:06>> Uh because right now we have folks from

16:08Dunkin Donuts and others going out to

16:10feed the meters every couple of hours. I

16:13know I've done that and have it for

16:15folks who are coming in to conduct

16:17business, pick up dry cleaning or the

16:18lawyer's office, etc. Sorry, I digress.

16:21I'll sit back. I'll let you speak.

16:23>> No, no, thank you.

16:25>> So, you're saying people that's working

16:27at Dunkin Donuts are going out to food?

16:30>> Yes. Most uh most employees for small

16:33businesses and parking right up there.

16:37>> Yeah. In particular for for shift

16:39workers, this type of a program can be

16:41really useful because they're a little

16:43more willing to walk five minutes to get

16:45to their job in the morning if they know

16:47they don't have to pay for parking and

16:48feed a meter. They can go park in the

16:49free spaces. So, it helps a lot because

16:52they're currently underutilized. There's

16:54hardly anybody parking on those

16:56stretches.

16:57>> Yeah.

17:00and and the enforcement issues. It's,

17:03you know, right now, as Jason was

17:05indicating, the system is really heavy

17:08on enforcement, which gets to be a

17:10complaint that we all hear, you know, I

17:14went downtown. I I normally don't go

17:17downtown and I got a ticket. Yeah.

17:19>> So, it's trying to help and make it more

17:23convenient.

17:24>> Exactly.

17:27>> Yeah. ours

17:30>> and I think it and I don't think it's

17:32stated clearly enough or or frequently

17:35enough here in this slideshow. While

17:38revenue

17:40will go up, that's the side benefit. And

17:43we'll talk later about what we can do

17:45with that extra revenue. It's really

17:48designed to create availability and make

17:51it easier to park. And and it's just

17:53truly that your system is so out ofd on

17:56its pricing that by getting even to a

18:00$1.50 an hour in the core, you're still

18:02below the market. Like other places

18:05around you are $2 or higher per hour, at

18:08least in prime spaces like that. So

18:10there's still some potential to move and

18:13change. I think that's one of the other

18:15important takeaways here is this is a

18:18snapshot of data that exists. Soon as

18:21you put this into place, patterns will

18:23change and they might change to

18:25correspond to what we're saying, but

18:26they more than likely will need to be

18:28adjusted at least on the margins if not

18:30more substantively. And I think that

18:32level of revisiting this if you were to

18:36implement this soon would need to happen

18:39even every few months or at least every

18:42quarter or half year. And that's what a

18:44lot of systems do. And usually you can

18:46settle in for a while, but over time, as

18:50we all know, costs of things are going

18:52up. And people who are dropping $80 now

18:55for a dinner are happy to spend $4 to

18:58park out front for a couple of hours.

19:01Well, in five years, they're going to be

19:03dropping $150 for that same dinner

19:06because that's where the costs of things

19:07are going. And they'll be more than

19:09happy to spend $8 out front. So, I think

19:11we need to kind of pay attention to that

19:13as we get going over time as well. me

19:15with those numbers. [laughter]

19:18>> All right, Jason.

19:20>> Sorry. Little [laughter] little

19:22inflationarity reality there.

19:24>> Yeah.

19:25>> Um, Off Street is a little bit more

19:29controllable market. You know, not as

19:31publicly seen. There's a certain amount

19:33of people who are going to buy into this

19:35system. Your system is not getting

19:38enough of it. Um, it's like less than

19:41half full. So just within the SPA's

19:44parking facilities, the eight or so that

19:47we've assessed here, there's 1,800 empty

19:50spaces that are available at the peak of

19:52the peak. Like that's a huge garage or

19:56two of capacity in your existing system.

19:59And we also know that the SPA is only a

20:03fraction about a third of the total

20:05downtown supply, just that leftmost

20:07column. We don't have the data on how

20:09many people are parking at MGM and

20:11Monarch Place and all these others here.

20:13We know it's a mix of utilization.

20:16There's a mix of um different approaches

20:19to how those facilities are run. One of

20:21the concerns that's come up in this

20:23study is well maybe the reason nobody

20:26parks in the SPA facilities is because

20:30that big cheap free sorry MGM garage is

20:34really drawing people there. Well, the

20:36I981 South Garage is still utilized. The

20:38streets out front are still busy. And a

20:40lot of that has to do with the fact that

20:42it is just a different submarket that

20:45the MGM casino has. Same with the

20:47convention center. So, while smaller

20:50private facilities, certainly Monarch

20:51Place might compete as they have for

20:53years with the SPA, these kind of new

20:56influences in the downtown are sort of

20:58at the periphery of what the SPA

21:01controls. And so that's good because you

21:03know the north traditional downtown is

21:05still something that's within your

21:07control. But one of the things that

21:09again is a problem is the rates across

21:12all of these facilities are pretty much

21:16flat. I mean with the exception of

21:17course of the free casino. These are

21:20your prices to park whether it's

21:22monthly, daily or hourly on average.

21:25There's no variation. And again

21:27therefore you get different levels of

21:29utilization. And so we recognized the

21:33same thing as we did for on street that

21:36some places that are heavily utilized

21:38might be an opportunity. Some places

21:40that are underutilized are a place where

21:42the price should probably go down. And

21:45so

21:45>> I wanted to jump in for a second here,

21:47Jason. I haven't had the opportunity to

21:48come in front of you. You remember a

21:50couple of years ago there was an

21:51article. So just to explain how we got

21:54here,

21:55>> we used to have a robust uh uh financial

21:59budget. We used to generate enough

22:01revenue um and and do what we could to

22:05maintain our facilities. Additionally,

22:08we used to pitch in about $350,000 to

22:11the downtown police deployment. I don't

22:13know

22:14>> how long it's been.

22:15>> Tom used to work

22:16>> exactly. We had funding to be able to do

22:19some of these things. And then 2018

22:22fall, the MGM garage opened up. 3200

22:26spaces. Beautiful. It's free. How do I

22:30compete with that? And then 2020, this

22:33pandemic,

22:35folks are still working remotely. And

22:38Tim has complained many times, state

22:40employees are still working couple days

22:41a week in the office. Federal and

22:44private employees still have the

22:45flexibility to be in their sweats all

22:47day, work from home. So, how do I bring

22:50in parking is all I offer. As a result,

22:52our facilities are struggling. Um and uh

22:57we ended up selling Bass Mutual Center

23:00uh garage used to call it Civic Center.

23:03We used to own it was built in 1971.

23:07It would have cost us 50 $60 million to

23:09build a new garage. We couldn't. So we

23:11ended up selling it to the state. So

23:13that's 30% of our revenues. All the

23:16hockey games, Disney shows, basketball

23:19games, bridal shows, our revenues gone.

23:24That's how we got here, unfortunately.

23:26So, we're you know.

23:28>> Okay. So, are you almost done with your

23:30presentation?

23:32>> Yeah, actually I'm just going to talk

23:33you through really fast. Um the same

23:37type of thing. We we basically said to

23:40Bool,

23:41>> believe it.

23:41>> You know, you could tier your garage

23:44rates and and adjust them from these

23:47flat rates that are today with some

23:48tweaks that are based on the location of

23:50these facilities. and you could offer

23:52people a deal. Some people to pay a lot

23:55less for their monthly parking, but

23:57others that are in high demand would pay

23:59a little bit more. Um, we also said to

24:02him, you could do that on a tenant by

24:03tenant basis and give these are just a

24:06sample of a few tenants a deal. They all

24:09pay 90 bucks a month. Well, maybe you

24:10could make it so they pay as much as 140

24:13a month for that prime facility, but get

24:15a discount to go pay less, 80 bucks a

24:18month to go park in a second garage and

24:20give them a bit of a break. So, the same

24:22idea of taring, it's a little bit more

24:24directly within the negotiation of lease

24:27rates and then advertising of permits,

24:29but it allows to do the same thing with

24:31the off- streetet space as we talked

24:33about for on street.

24:34>> Who usually buy monthly monthly parking?

24:36Is it employees or residents? It's res

24:39residents and uh uh businesses that are

24:42located downtown. They'll they'll have

24:45their employees get monthly permits.

24:47>> Yeah. Cuz my sister works at the

24:49courthouse and she parks at the the one

24:52across from us. Yeah.

24:53>> Um she'd be like getting her money a

24:57month. [laughter]

24:59I don't know if she'll want it to go up,

25:00but

25:02>> Yeah.

25:02>> Well, she can also then pay less. That's

25:05part of the deal. give her something

25:06that's cheaper, but that may mean she

25:08goes to a different garage that's less

25:10utilized.

25:11>> Yeah.

25:13>> Um I won't run through the details on

25:15our comparison. I think this the the the

25:17punchline here is that you're still

25:20really low on what your revenues could

25:22be.

25:23>> And I think that's a really Yeah, we can

25:25email all this information.

25:26>> See the numbers, but I want to see them

25:28right now.

25:28>> Yeah. And this is, you know, it's it's a

25:32it isn't to say that your system isn't

25:34bigger than Northampton, but it's barely

25:36doing better than Northampton, for

25:38instance, and it's woefully behind

25:40Hartford and and actually amazingly

25:42behind even little small West Hartford

25:44in terms of both revenue and and the

25:46rates that you can charge. So, um, lots

25:50of places are doing the tiered parking,

25:52lots of places are doing that with off-

25:53streetet as well. um you ultimately are

25:57lagging behind pure cities your size. So

26:00I think one of the things that Buool

26:02wanted us to do this whole entire study

26:04about is because there's been these

26:07problems he talked about the civic

26:09center. There's current decline in the

26:11I91 particularly the north garage that

26:14needs to be repaired and fixed. If not

26:17it's going to become a big problem. um

26:19the garages are not attractive for new

26:22employers, much less existing users. And

26:25there's just this need for safer quality

26:27facilities. And when we looked at taking

26:30these different revenue projections over

26:33the years, not only did we figure out a

26:36way to start to pay for a lot of this,

26:39which includes not just making the

26:41system nicer, but leveraging loans that

26:45can pay themselves back on the

26:46increasing revenues over time to get the

26:49maintenance done sooner than he might

26:50otherwise be able to do. But it also

26:53includes a fund for the local

26:56businesses. We started it at $25,000 a

26:59year. After a few years, ramped it up to

27:01$50,000 a year. These are parking

27:04benefit funds that local businesses can

27:06help decide goes into local improvements

27:09just to make the walk nicer to the

27:11remote parking to add flowers and

27:13lighting along their streets to just do

27:15better wayfinding, whatever it is. Um,

27:17and also to of course invest in deferred

27:19maintenance. So, that's that's a summary

27:22of what we were recommending. I'm happy

27:24to go back to any one of these pieces of

27:26information and answer your questions.

27:29>> Okay. Thank you.

27:33You could stop sharing your screen. That

27:35was helpful questions. Um Madame

27:38President, council or

27:42Go ahead. Um my question is what would

27:47the communication look like um to the

27:52residents?

27:53That's my question. That's all I have.

27:55[laughter]

27:57>> I mean we've been making a lot of

27:59recommendations for book and he has a

28:01lot of them on his books to be able to

28:03communicate with directly. How you

28:05message it we would always say it's

28:07important to come across with what the

28:09positives are. you know, write up first

28:11and foremost options that you don't

28:13have. You know, we're going to offer to

28:15you a lowerc cost option if you're a

28:18garage parker. Um, we're going to offer

28:21to those who are coming into town the

28:23opportunity to stay beyond the time

28:26limits and find discount parking at

28:28rates that are equal to or below current

28:32rates. And we're also finding

28:34availability for folks in the high

28:37demand areas um by charging a rate that

28:40doesn't have a time limit associated

28:42with it so that we don't necessarily

28:44have to have the ticket writers chasing

28:45you. That's a pretty important message

28:47overall. Most places that do things like

28:49this, people are like, "Yeah, this makes

28:51sense. Why didn't we do that sooner?"

28:54>> Um councelor Tru.

28:58>> Thank you, Madam Chair. Also, uh just to

29:01piggyback what Madame President said

29:03also, how would uh that be rolled out to

29:06the community as far as uh getting it

29:09out there? Uh meaning I guess to to to

29:12piggyback, will we will we be doing any

29:14communication as far as doing civic

29:16association meetings or or different

29:18things hosted downtown that particular

29:20area? Um and then also when do you all I

29:24might have missed it. Are you looking to

29:25roll this out beginning of the year or

29:27is it like a step process with this?

29:30>> Ideally, I would like in January 1,

29:32allowing a little bit of time to

29:34communicate with our stakeholders and

29:36residents. That's my opinion. Jason, do

29:39you have any suggestions on that?

29:40>> No, I think that's fine. And and a good

29:42information campaign that gets the word

29:43out there for at least a month or two is

29:45a good idea. That could be everything.

29:48Social media, advertising, let's have

29:49some meetings, let people understand

29:51what the benefits are. the history of

29:52the parking authority in terms of

29:54changes. They're never implemented

29:57>> within two weeks. It's it's gradually

30:01bringing people along, letting them know

30:02that this is coming up and that you know

30:05of at this date which could be two

30:07months in the future. This is the

30:09system. And and by the way, uh before

30:11you arrived, we did form a committee uh

30:16that consisted of uh uh local business

30:18holders, I mean business stakeholders,

30:20Ray Barry, uh Sarah Smith from Tower

30:23Square, uh Melvin Edwards from the city

30:26council, Michelle from the bid, and we

30:29actually spoke about how we could get

30:31the message out. And Michelle was very

30:33excited about it. We could get involved.

30:35I can attend civic uh meetings, city

30:37council meetings, and other places.

30:39anything that's being streamed. I

30:41struggled getting the news out. People

30:43still feel they have to have coins in

30:44their pocket.

30:46>> Not true. It was the passport app.

30:47>> I still I didn't know that.

30:50>> I some of the positive looking on the

30:53floor like do I got a quarter?

30:55>> Right.

30:56>> Anywhere in our city can use the

30:57passport app to park and add.

31:00>> That's good to know.

31:01>> Yeah.

31:02>> How did you tell? Well,

31:04>> we'll go moving forward now. Um

31:06[laughter] yeah, I just want to comment

31:08on the maybe underusage of the parking

31:12facilities and um parking available in

31:15addition to MGM being there. Um the

31:18activity down here is not that much. So

31:22people don't have reason, you know, to

31:24come down here. Although parking is free

31:26after 5, so it doesn't matter. and on

31:28the weekends. Um, but that that's

31:30something I think that we need to look

31:31at because it's going to extend the

31:33parking to 8:00 p.m. which I guess is

31:36good for the bottom line. Um, we have to

31:38have things for people to come and do

31:41down here, you know. So, that's just

31:43another thing that's not up to you guys,

31:44of course. Um, but just to keep that in

31:47mind. So, um, that's one of my things,

31:49too, is notifying. How do we notify the

31:51community? Um, and we'll I'm sure we can

31:54do that between now and January.

31:56And then the other thing like so I know

31:58that we could use the QR code or

32:00whatever when I'm in like Boston or

32:03other communities the sign is up here

32:05>> and so I'm like good I can see it but on

32:08the little meter I'm just going to try

32:09to throw my little change in

32:11>> on the meter and go.

32:13>> I didn't even notice and I

32:14>> Yeah, it's on the meter cuz

32:16>> we have to do a better job with the

32:18signage because you're right. People

32:19like scanning it. if I can just look up

32:22and then it tells you all the

32:24instructions right there. But by the

32:26time I'm at the meter, I already got my

32:28change. So, I'm like

32:30>> and I'm going to keep going. So, I think

32:31that will help. But

32:33>> is there a day rate for parking? There's

32:36no day rate

32:37>> uh for the uh beers or for the garage.

32:40Daily rate I think is just $20 max 24

32:43hours.

32:44>> That is so cheap because I work in

32:45Boston.

32:47>> Three times that.

32:49I'm sorry, but it is

32:50>> the charge is double.

32:52>> I was working with a partner that wanted

32:54to bring a program to Springfield. They

32:57were like, "Well, how much is your

32:58garage parking and and they I was like,

33:02um I think it's like 20 $25." They were

33:04like, "What? We'll pay half." And then

33:06the other people only have to pay 10.

33:08And then it was just like And then when

33:10I go out there, I'm like, "What is

33:12this?" $40, some $60.

33:14>> We we allow a customer uh 30 minutes

33:18free. So in case you enter the white

33:21floor can't find any space and you

33:22leave, we don't announce it. So when

33:25you're getting out, you don't have to

33:26pay anything.

33:27>> And then we charge $2 per hour, which

33:29used to be $150. But that's what Jason

33:31is trying to explain.

33:33>> People can park at a premium spot in

33:36front of the office on street for 50

33:39cents. Why would anybody go into my

33:41garage?

33:43>> That's why it's always

33:44>> Okay. Councelor um Click Bruce.

33:48Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, one more

33:50question. I know we talked about

33:52surrounding areas, particularly when I

33:54go to Harford. Are we are we talking on

33:57meters? Are we going to look to update

33:58upgrade our meter system? Because when I

34:01go to Harford, I can go to like a kiosk,

34:03put in my uh license plate number

34:06>> uh and pay pay that way.

34:08>> Uh I know we talked about coins of that

34:10nature. So, is this including a upgrade

34:12with our with our meters or is we still

34:14going to have the same meter system?

34:18Jason, you want to take that or I can

34:19jump in?

34:20>> Yeah. So, I I would say that that is

34:22100% in the plan and the question is how

34:25much of that can be done right up front

34:27when you reach out or we reach out to

34:29the community to say here's what's

34:31coming. I think one of the things has to

34:33be what am I getting out of it as well

34:36besides just I can stay longer and maybe

34:38there's a place that's cheaper to park.

34:40So, there's two things. One is yes that

34:43there's going to be better equipment to

34:45make the system easier, better signing,

34:47even show some examples of what that may

34:49look like. It may not all happen

34:51immediately, but we can roll that out.

34:53And then two is the net proceeds. A

34:57significant portion of that net can go

34:59back into downtown improvements. The way

35:02you do that, of course, with a business

35:03association, but to the public, just to

35:05know that you're investing in the

35:06downtown and not just collecting money

35:08is going to be a big deal.

35:11Yeah,

35:11>> ideally I would like to add especially

35:14Court Square and the uh financial

35:18district area we call it some pay on

35:20foot uh I mean uh pay stations like one

35:23meter can cover

35:24>> 10 spaces let's say

35:26>> and you can pay with your license plate.

35:29>> Yeah. Um well if I may um in those

35:34places like uh the uh council like Chris

35:36was talking about even in Boston and

35:38Harford you don't need meters because

35:41the thing tells you which part which

35:44license

35:44>> plate meter

35:47>> but those kiosks are good because you

35:48can do it all like go to the kiosk if

35:50they don't want to be involved with

35:52their cell phone or their license plate

35:53and still pay by meter. Right. That's

35:55okay. But then others will just use

35:57their phone and whip in and out.

35:59>> Right. Right. Yeah.

36:00>> It's also easier for us. We don't have

36:01to hit 10 meters to collect the coins

36:04when there's one.

36:05>> Right.

36:06>> Yeah.

36:07>> And it's good because you can choose how

36:09many hours you want to stay somewhere.

36:11Like I hate thinking about if I only got

36:16a dollar.

36:17>> You can extend it right from

36:18>> Yeah. from your phone. But I never use

36:21that little QR code. I forget because

36:23it's so small.

36:25Okay. [laughter]

36:27>> I promise.

36:30All right. Is any other questions or

36:33comments? When is this going to be on

36:35the agenda next? Next week, I think or

36:38no, we don't know yet. You know, when

36:40you're coming back to city council,

36:41>> it would have to come from here,

36:43>> right? Yeah.

36:44>> City clerk, I think, and they will

36:45schedule and let you.

36:46>> Okay, sounds great.

36:47>> So, the next regular meeting is the 5th

36:49and then the 19th, right?

36:50>> So, you could get on either of those

36:52agendas, whichever ones

36:54>> you want better.

36:56back.

36:56>> Would you have any availability or any

36:59preference 5th or the 19th? If you need

37:01the 19th, we can make it work.

37:04>> Um, I believe the

37:07both the 5th

37:10um, yeah, the 5th should be fine and the

37:1419th is also fine for me. And I would

37:18only ask that you all give me your best

37:20advice on just how much of this

37:22information we share with the full

37:24council or something a little bit

37:25briefer.

37:26>> So I would suggest you do maybe like a

37:29three to five minute presentation.

37:32>> The counselors that aren't here are able

37:34to watch this, you know, on their own

37:37time so that they can see it

37:39>> and um if they have any questions.

37:42Correct.

37:42>> Will we be voting though?

37:44>> I think so. So that wouldn't give us

37:47enough time to at least have a couple of

37:49meetings with the community.

37:52>> Um I would say like the 19th because No,

37:54we could have Ed Whitley do one of those

37:57group meetings that he did with the

37:58neighborhood councils

38:00>> like he did for the fences ordinance.

38:03I don't think he did that. Councils did

38:06it themselves.

38:06>> The neighborhood council. Well, he

38:07helped them with the zoom and

38:09everything. Yeah.

38:10>> But we can at least ask them to put that

38:12together so we can get some feedback

38:14from them. All right. And then put them

38:17on the 19th. So maybe you utilize um the

38:21week of the 5th or the following week to

38:24sending the presentation too, right? So

38:26we can get the presentation out to the

38:27whole council.

38:28>> We have uh the PDF version of it, but

38:31this is also being recorded.

38:33>> We should get the presentation because

38:35that gives people time to sit digest.

38:38>> I don't want to watch it. I'm just going

38:40to

38:42>> We're gonna get blamed. we're going to

38:44get blamed. So, I'd rather like at least

38:47give the neighborhood councils the

38:49opportunity. I can I can um coordinate

38:52it with Ed.

38:53>> I'm not sure what that what that would

38:55benefit, you know, neighborhood just

38:57keep making them aware and then they can

38:59they can bring the information back to

39:01their neighborhoods.

39:04>> Okay.

39:04>> And I will take all the blame for it. Uh

39:07>> are there meteors outside of downtown

39:09like any other meters throughout the

39:11city? No,

39:12>> they're only downtown. So, we don't have

39:14anything on like summer.

39:16>> No,

39:17>> not from the authority standoint.

39:18>> Just the downtown business district.

39:21Yes.

39:21>> Okay. So, then we don't

39:23>> at the bid that represents the owners of

39:26the buildings in the downtown. They've

39:28been they've been very supportive of

39:31>> encouraging this plan to go forward. So

39:33maybe what we could do

39:35>> is we could send send all the

39:37neighborhood councils the notice about

39:40this and advise them to watch this

39:43council um this finance committee

39:45meeting and then if they have any

39:47questions they can comment or um

39:50concerns they can reach out to you guys

39:52so they'll know it's your fault.

39:54>> Hey bu.

39:56>> Yes. Um

39:59I mean this meeting is excellent and I

40:02mean we understand that you know I mean

40:06that is that is needed but have we

40:09communicated to all the uh city

40:11councilors

40:13why it is needed? I mean it's going to

40:16make things better for Springfield in

40:18general but the why do we need it as a

40:23part of the Springfield parking

40:25authority?

40:26Why do we need to make these changes?

40:28Although they are necessary, but why is

40:31it necessary at this juncture?

40:34>> Okay.

40:36>> I just wanted to get out to the people

40:38who paid for the passes. [clears throat]

40:40Um they need to know that these

40:42increases are going to happen, but I

40:44guess we can approve it and talk about

40:47it later.

40:48>> I'll let I'll let

40:51that question. We actually have database

40:53on everyone who parks at our garage uh

40:56as a passholder. They sign up. We have

40:58their email addresses. So, anytime we

41:00create sort of like a newsletter, we can

41:02send it out to everybody ahead of time

41:04and encourage them to reach out with any

41:06questions and concerns. U we have tried

41:09a few times holding those uh uh downtown

41:12stakeholders meetings. Folks don't show

41:13up.

41:14>> Yeah.

41:14>> You know, we have tried a few times.

41:16>> Uh so that's why I struggle to get the

41:18news out. So, I think sending it out to

41:22the neighborhood councils or maybe just

41:24sending it to Ed and asking him to send

41:26it out, I think it's a way of making the

41:28community aware that there will be some

41:31changes happening. Um, and I think to um

41:34Mr. lot's point

41:37when we started before we started me the

41:39reason that we need to increase this

41:41revenue is because you have lost revenue

41:44because of MGM coming the pandemic

41:47>> people working home and all that

41:50>> yeah so um that that is understood and I

41:53understand that and of course everything

41:55is going up prices are going up

41:56everywhere so that's understandable I'm

41:59glad that you're not trying to charge

42:01$40 a day Um, well, I don't know how

42:05much you're going to charge. You're not

42:06charging 20.

42:07>> Our role is actually economic

42:09development. Absolutely. Just going to

42:11say that. I mean, the the parking system

42:13is so critical to downtown economic

42:15development.

42:15>> Yeah.

42:16>> And you know, with us sitting there at a

42:1950 cent an hour rate, it's just not

42:23>> effective anymore.

42:24>> Right. Right. Okay. All right. So, is

42:26that something that you think is good?

42:27Madam President, we'll send we'll ask Ed

42:29Whitley to send a notice out about this

42:32and to um the the video, ask the um

42:36neighborhood councils to watch the

42:38meeting so they could be made aware.

42:40>> I'll work with your office to get that

42:41information.

42:42>> While I don't think $40 for the

42:45Springfield area is the right number, I

42:50do think $20 is too low.

42:52>> Okay.

42:52>> Um it's too low. We It's way too low. I

42:56mean, if you go to any other community

42:59>> and there are cities and towns much

43:01smaller than Springfield that are

43:04charging more and I know this from

43:07experience because I'm working

43:08throughout the state and I'm parking.

43:10So, I mean, we have to move with the

43:14times, too. Inflation is hitting

43:15everybody. You know,

43:16>> we have been wanting to do this for many

43:19years.

43:20>> I won't name any names, but I wasn't

43:22allowed to come to you. And I remember

43:24two years ago, uh, Councilwoman Walsh

43:27said, "But you know me, but you didn't

43:28come to me." I said, "I was just going

43:30to my point person."

43:31>> Yeah.

43:32>> So, so you want the meeting on October

43:345th.

43:35>> Uh, 19th is fine.

43:37>> I think the 19th a little bit

43:40information out. Allow me to answer some

43:42questions. If any anybody has any

43:44questions, I'm happy to sit with them

43:46>> and then we'll schedule it on the 19th

43:48and I'll be there

43:50>> for your questions.

43:51>> Yeah. The only one that I'm a little bit

43:53concerned about is that parking garage

43:56across the street going to 140. I don't

43:58know if that's the number. I mean, I

44:01maybe gradual increase because he said

44:03maybe 140. So that's the number that's

44:04in my head for monthly B.

44:06>> Jason, can you tell?

44:07>> I said $40.

44:08>> No, he did. No,

44:09>> don't.

44:10>> Yeah, that was we had modeled that and

44:12for just one set of scenarios where

44:14there's a certain high demand set of

44:15tenants. I don't necessarily know if

44:17that's the the right price. We had when

44:19we scaled it, we actually had a number

44:21of numbers, but also some of them came

44:24down. That was the point as well.

44:26>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some of the further

44:28away came down and

44:29>> we'll try to summarize it simply.

44:32>> Okay.

44:32>> Okay. Very good. Excellent. Anything

44:35else? Anyone else?

44:36>> This is very helpful. We're grateful.

44:38>> Thank you very much for coming out.

44:39>> Yeah. Thank you for explaining it to us

44:42>> and I'm glad that we're picking up 95

44:44free parking, you know.

44:45>> Yes. [clears throat] know the the north

44:49garage, you could have people that are

44:51in uh some of the apartment units that

44:53decide, well, I don't want to use Taylor

44:55Street because I can get such a great

44:57deal on the north.

44:58>> Exactly. Exactly.

45:00>> Yeah.

45:00>> Yeah. I think the one of the other

45:02things we do, Michelle uh from the bid

45:04should have been here to tell you, she's

45:06the one who came to us. Uh

45:08Warthingington Dining District employees

45:10of the restaurants park at Taylor Street

45:13Garage for $35 a month. M.

45:15>> So that's actually cheaper than parking

45:17on street because you'd pay $4 for your

45:19eight hour shift a day.

45:21>> Who owns that garage Taylor Street?

45:22>> We uh the parking owns it. Okay.

45:25>> And they actually support the silver

45:26brick lofts.

45:29>> It's $30 just to get the employees to

45:32park in the structured parking as

45:33opposed to taking up spaces on the

45:35street where customers would come.

45:38>> So we do some of those nice things, but

45:40you just don't know about it.

45:40>> Yeah, we discree.

45:42>> Yeah. Well, you know, you want to drive

45:44around and see that you can park easily.

45:51>> Have a good day. band.