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Mr. Zelenka commended the efforts of Mr. Petry and also noted his appreciation of the new pay options <br />that had been implemented as part of the City's parking program. <br />Mr. Zelenka maintained that there was essentially no such thing as "free parking" and that the elimination <br />of all of the City's parking meters would represent a loss of revenue to the General Fund of approximately <br />$650,000. <br />Mr. Zelenka commented that there appeared to be no clear linkages between the availability of free <br />parking and increased economic activity. He believed that the City's recent free downtown parking pilot <br />program had been a failure in that it had not definitively demonstrated any positive effects on economic <br />activity in or around the downtown area. <br />Mr. Pryor expressed that the availability of free downtown parking would be a good outcome for the City <br />but agreed with Mr. Zelenka's comments that doing so might come at significant expense to the City's <br />General Fund. He hoped that any staff proposals regarding free downtown parking would come with <br />information regarding what other City areas might be affected by such strategies. <br />In response to Mr. Pryor's comments, City Manager Ruiz said it would be important for the council and <br />staff to discuss the long-term health of the City’s Parking Fund again in six months. He said while the <br />Parking Fund would be able to accommodate the staff-recommended options in the immediate future, <br />there were several factors that might adversely impact the Parking Fund later on. <br />Mr. Pryor asked City Manager Ruiz if he was optimistic regarding the state of the Parking Fund after the <br />next six months. City Manager Ruiz stated that he was optimistic regarding the nature of the future <br />conversations regarding the City's Parking Fund. <br />Ms. Ortiz said that as a result of her conversations with several downtown constituents, she was <br />unconvinced that the free parking strategy would measurably improve downtown economic activity. She <br />said she would support staff's third option with a sunset provision of October 12, 2010. She believed that <br />the use of a sunset provision would encourage productive staff and council conversations regarding the <br />effectiveness of free downtown parking strategies. <br />Mr. Petry, responding to a question from Mr. Brown, stated that the City's parking meter revenue <br />increased by approximately 2 percent annually. He further expressed that it was difficult to compare the <br />circumstances surrounding the City's parking situation in the 1970s and 1980s with more recent factors <br />that had resulted in a reduction in the number of parking citations that had been issued. <br />Mr. Brown compared elements of the City's parking system to those of Corvallis and suggested that the <br />City of Corvallis had been able to strike an effective balance between the availability of free parking and <br />the economic needs of the community. In response, Mr. Petry said that there were several important <br />differences between the policies of the Cities of Eugene and Corvallis that prevented the application of <br />similar parking strategies. <br />Mr. Brown stated he was inclined to support Mr. Clark's motion with a sunset provision applied to it. <br />Mr. Petry, responding to a question from Mr. Brown, briefly described how other free downtown parking <br />strategies had been used in the past. <br />Mr. Brown feared that free downtown parking would be abused by employees of downtown businesses. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 11, 2010 Page 6 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />