Well, this is cool.

I do see some new faces.

So, welcome to the uh public discussion forum on a timed paid parking.

That's what you're gonna be talking about.

And when you see me scribbling notes, that's because I'm an active listener, and the way I learn is by writing it.

So let's see.

Marlene Shaw, and then it will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, so please stand.

Thanks.

The greatest danger to our future is apathy.

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you.

That's a quote by Jane Goodall.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, an indivisible liberty and justice for all.

Come on in and have a seat.

I will say this if there's any chance that you have your phone on, please turn it off.

If there's any chance that you feel the need to have side conversations during the meeting, please step outside.

Because we want to make sure that every single person sitting in this room who wants to speak tonight is heard.

Because that's the whole purpose of this meeting.

So this is the way this is a little different than a city council meeting.

And so this is the way that this one's gonna break down.

Um I'm going to share a couple thoughts to kick off the meeting, okay, and then I'm certainly going to allow my two council members who are here with us to um say a few words as well.

And then it's going to be open to public comment.

The same rules as always will apply.

You'll have three minutes, but I usually say to say anything you want, no, it's three minutes to say anything you want about parking.

Nothing's off the table, okay.

That's why you're here.

We want to hear what you have to say.

All right.

And then when we're done with that, um, we'll see if there's any need to do a wrap-up consensus or if the consensus is pretty obvious, and we'll see if they are there's anything else that the council members want to say, and then that's the end of it uh for now, okay.

So there we're not uh what we're not trying to do is um there's no agenda.

We've none of the council members have talked about this at all, not once, okay.

Um, so and there's no proposal, there's no ordinance, and there's no vote.

This is a conversation, all right.

So a couple things that I'd like to say is um I don't get to see social media too much, fortunately, but I still don't see it sometimes, and there was I saw many great conspiracy theories, and one was why now.

So I'd like to respond to why now, why is the council having this conversation now?

Well, number one, I've lived here for 15 years, and I've attended council meetings for 13 years, and all they were I I continually heard parking, parking, parking, parking.

Number one complaint in Gulfport before the storms was parking.

Okay, but we did not have a council that wanted to talk about parking.

Well, now we have a council that's very open to listening to everything that you have to say, and we didn't have that in the past.

Second thing is whether we like it or not, because of the storms that Mother Nature gave us last year, there's going to be changes in the city of Gulfport, okay?

Hopefully, the spirit and the kindness that we spit have in Gulfport is not gonna go away.

But some of our how we look is going to go away.

Some of how we re rebuild, excuse me, is gonna go away because we're gonna try and build back stronger and more resilient than what we looked like a year ago.

So if we're rebuilding, and some of this buildings hopefully gonna, you know, happen in the next two to three years, and some of this could be even take us out further, which is why I recently had a meeting called 2050, and it was wonderful.

People shared with me their visions of what they wanted to see and expected to see in Gulfport.

Well, I don't think we can do a 25-year plan or even a five-year building plan where there's not some discussion on parking.

So I want to hear from you.

This is not about implementing anything like today, tomorrow, or this calendar year by any means.

Okay, this is into the future.

Um, so uh the why now.

Consider I would say that within the next 12 months, and maybe I'm being um too positive, but I expect that we're gonna have three more restaurants operating in Gulfport, okay?

Of those three restaurants, only one, to the best of my knowledge, is gonna bring additional parking to Gulfport.

So now we'll have two more restaurants that I suspect will not bring additional parking, so I would suggest that that means parking is going to be a bigger issue.

The next reason is um I had several people, several residents ask me if we weren't ready to and ask me if we wouldn't install some timed parking.

Okay.

Quite a few people did that, and I'll tell you in a minute what their reasonings are why they want timed parking.

So I was approached by that by several people, even before I ever came into office.

People always wanted to talk to me about parking because I was at the meetings.

In addition to the residents bringing it up and wanting to talk about it, one other thing I noticed was in the six months that we've been in office.

I think at least four of us have used those words from the dais.

I don't think those words were ever used from the dais in the previous 12 years, except to say, as long as I'm mayor, we'll never have paid parking.

No conversation, no discussion, nothing with the residents.

Well, I've heard the words be used, which makes me think, hmm.

Uh the fifth reason that I list in terms of why now, well, you know, we tried to um well when I say we the council looked at an ordinance at the last council meeting, it did not pass, okay, and it had to do with more so with timed and limited parking for what was being considered campers.

That didn't park, that didn't fly, okay.

Um, and that's not what we're here to talk about at all tonight, but as a result of that, then I got some pushback again saying, well, if we can't eliminate some of the campers from parking, maybe we need to look at timed and or paid parking.

So that's one factor uh in the decision.

And the last reason, why now?

Because this was the night that worked for our city.

Okay, when I said could we have a meeting maybe in November, they said October 2nds available.

So I hope I've answered that question in terms of why now.

I also wanted to address for just a second some of the rumors, not all the rumors, because I you know I can't keep up with all of them, but the predominant rumor has to do with that this is all about money.

It's not.

We haven't even had a discussion ever, so how could we say it's about money?

And for those of you that are following along and paying attention, you know that we we passed, we passed our budget.

A balanced budget, even after the storms, we passed a balanced budget, and we clearly spelled out for those that are listening and paying attention what our priorities are, and parking was not even mentioned, okay?

So it has nothing to do with our budget.

And I applaud our staff for presenting us with such a um responsible budget following uh three hurricanes and a pop-up flood.

Okay, then I have to go to resident concerns.

Why are people wanting to talk about parking?

And I'm gonna share with you what I hear.

And I'm telling you all of this so that when you come up to speak, I would love if you want to address any of these things.

Since this is your hot button, one of the things I don't want to happen is we're not gonna have debates with you know one person versus another person.

This is about you saying what you think, not about saying you think somebody else's idea is bad.

So these are the things that I've been hearing over the years, but certainly more so in the last six months because now they think I have some power.

Oh, I bit my lip on that one.

Okay.

So I hear from some people that there are workers, our employees are taking too many spaces and for too many hours.

I hear from our seniors or our disabled that they need to have more and closer parking to the places, establishments they want to go to.

I hear that the downtown residents uh want relief from the campers.

I hear that the people can't um visit the Gulfport businesses because there's no parking.

This last week you thought that people wouldn't come to Gulfport because they wouldn't pay for parking, though you see it at plenty of the other small cities.

And in addition then to hearing that the uh employees take up too much and are there for too long.

I also hear more than once, the employees need free and unlimited parking.

Okay, there's not enough parking for them.

How can they work when there's no parking for them?

So I did hear from quite a few people, and I appreciate it.

I will say that from the people that I heard from, there was a pretty strong consensus, and I heard a lot of what you don't want, but doggone it, not one person gave me an idea of a solution or what you might want.

Okay.

So, you know, it might come down to well, we'll just complain for another 15 years.

I don't know.

But also, I want to say this that um though I never talked to any of the council members when I came into office, which was April 1, sometime in May, I actually met with somebody who is represents a company that does paid and timed parking.

Well, I don't, yeah, payment paid and timed parking.

And um I'm really grateful that I did talk to that person because my idea of parking was you know, when you went and you put your quarters into the meters, and I can't tell you how many people have responded to me about meters, and I don't think anybody would ever put in meters anymore.

But more important than that, here's a couple things that I learned.

Maybe you guys are way ahead of me and know all this, but I didn't know that a lot of these services now that run the uh the paid parking or the time parking.

Um the cities have a lot of control.

They can say for every time you park, the first hour is free.

Okay, the city could control it and say the first two hours are free.

So there are things that can be done.

Who controls the price?

The city controls the price.

So if you've noticed, like we go over to the pier in St.

Petersburg, there's plenty of chairs, just come on in.

Um at the pier, we're paying $2.50 an hour to park.

If we go to Pass the Grill, it's I think over $5.

I think about $575 or $5.50 an hour.

Well, if I'm just going over there to have breakfast, I don't know that I want to pay $11 extra uh for parking.

So I understand that price is a factor, but I wanted you to know that it's the city that controls that.

Also, I didn't ask a lot of details, but the woman that is this is her business in her field, she explained to me that businesses actually can offer coupons to their customers for free parking.

It's all done electronically, okay.

And last but not least, I asked her one question, and that was well, what if we wanted to say that um we wanted our residents to get 20 hours a month free parking?

Is that possible?

Absolutely.

So when you're talking about paid parking, I just wanted to throw that out to you that there are a lot of things that can be done nowadays that weren't done in in my day, okay.

And then in terms of time parking, I think if anybody is pro uh is for time parking tonight and wants to talk about it.

I would like to hear, you know, how many hours do you think it would be reasonable for timed parking?

How do you think that we would enforce time parking and defining the areas?

You know, I know that we're not talking all over town, so maybe defining the areas, and again, I'm gonna be writing notes like crazy today as y'all come up here and give your uh ideas.

Also, I do think that we have a lot more um parking in less congested areas for people who are willing to walk.

But what we've learned here uh we continue to learn is that when people are talking about there's not enough parking, they mean in front of the store with two spots, you know.

Well, you're never gonna get that in Gulfport, period.

And then that brings us to the whole parking garage.

If anyone wants to talk about that tonight, that's okay to talk about that too.

We talked about that at the Gulfport 2050, and I definitely would say we were absolutely clear as could be 49 and a half to 49 and a half percent, okay?

Um business ideas.

Maybe we need to get some of our younger residents to get these petty cabs and start driving, you know, from Tomlison or Hoyt Park.

You know, we park up there and they run us down.

We could do something like that.

You know, also what about um using the Ubers locally?

I know when I said that to Karen the other day when she said something, and I said, Well, what about calling Uber?

Because she said, we're willing to pay.

I said, What about calling Uber?

Oh, I never thought about doing that in town.

Well, you know, we got some people here trying to get some side hustle going on.

I bet you we could get some people that would agree to work on our busiest nights making short runs just you know, around staying exclusively in Gulfport.

And um, in terms of areas to park, you know, that are not so congested.

We have Hoyt Field, we have Tomlinson Park, we have City Hall, we have the dog park, and that's just the start of my list.

So, enough for me now.

I've said what I have to say, so I'm gonna give my fellow council members a chance to address anything they want, and then we're gonna open it up to public comment.

Everybody will have their three minutes that wants to speak.

We're not in any rush.

Okay, when I first got on council, I had a um town hall about this, and at that time, so this was probably four and a half years ago or something, and there was no consensus that came out of that.

And I think parking has gotten worse or more difficult to find.

And I did bring up at one time, we used to have paid parking at the beach, and so we gave resident only parking for the area below 28th and between 58th and beach, because people were pay parking up there instead of paying for the beach parking.

Well, we've gotten rid of that beach paid parking, but we still have resident only parking there.

So at one point I suggested that people who were working in the businesses along beach or shore should get a sticker or something so that they could pay apart, you know, park in the resident-only parking area, which would get them off of the main parking areas.

But at the time that didn't go anywhere.

But I think Karen summed up everything, and so I don't have much more than that.

But I did want to bring up two things totally unrelated to parking, but it's important.

One, I I have bought another house in Ward 4, and I am going to be moving there, but I got a resident um building permit, so I'm not allowed to move for a year, and I wouldn't have moved for a year till my term was up anyway.

So it's rented and it's waiting for me once I get through all the million repairs it needs, and um, and I will still be here.

But I also read something in the paper today that was important that because of the government shutdown, the government will not be issuing new flood insurance policies.

So if you're selling your house or trying to buy a house in a flood zone, you may not, if you have a mortgage, you may not be able to close because you won't be able to get flood insurance.

So I wanted to put that out there because I just read it today, and it could be important.

All righty.

Councilmember Shaw.

Shh.

Thank you, Mayor, for laying that foundation for the discussion and um residence input.

And and for us as well, you covered a number of points that that now uh Vice Mayor Thanos and I didn't have to.

Um, and I've been here a few decades, and I I'm aware that we've had this conversation at least a few times in past years, but it was um strongly opposed, and uh here we are today.

Time has passed, and I've heard more people in favor for a variety of reasons, as what Osmir um love spoke of.

Yes.

And um, and that's been in the last couple of years at least.

So yet, many are still opposed, but it's not unreasonable to reconsider matters over the years.

Uh I know how I felt about parking meter matters, uh, but this isn't about what I want.

That's why I said at the last meeting, I needed to hear from residences, and I also wanted to hear from business owners as well.

I've heard from a number of residents and some businesses, and now I want to hear what everyone here has to say.

So thank you.

Very good.

So let's not be shy, all right.

We're gonna come up to the mic.

If you would like, please give your name.

If you'd like to tell us if you live in Galport or not, that would be helpful because I'm gonna assume that's who I really want to hear from are Gulfport residents.

And um, three minutes.

Byron, your hand went up first.

And listen, because we don't want to be here all night.

I just called on Byron first.

It's totally okay for somebody to be ready to come up right behind them.

I can't see that three-minute clock, but you all can, okay, because we don't need to, you know, waste even 10 minutes with people being shy about coming up.

You're on.

Go.

Hi.

Hi.

Byron Shalfant.

I'm the owner of Siri's Gourmet Burgers and Pizza, and I also here live here right across the street.

So um I'm gonna try to go fast because I got a lot to say.

I've been talking about the parking problem for years, and it greatly affects my business.

It has continued to affect my business because it got to the point where people can't come here to get my food.

I have a lot of people, a lot of takeout.

Where people want to come, they want to be able to park, they want to be able to pick up their food and they want to be able to go.

And the council gave me the one space.

It still gets parked in sometimes.

But all the parking in front of me, when drunken taco was there, kept getting taken up by employees.

Which really killed me during lunch hour and dinner hour.

So we need to have timed parking.

We need to have something that's going to get someplace else for the employees to be able to park so that they're not parked in the area where we need our incoming customers to come from.

Not everybody that's a customer to a restaurant in Gulfport lives in Gulfport.

We can't survive as many restaurants as Gulfport has just on the people in Gulfport.

We have to be able to bring people in from outside.

That's why I'm against metered parking.

I like your idea of the first two hours free.

That might make things work better.

We'd have to talk about this more.

I'm an advocate for a parking garage between the senior center and the library to help alleviate the parking.

I know that's not going to happen right away.

There also could be added parking on 54th Street at different places.

And there's there's a lot of options to get some of the parking off of Beach Boulevard, but there has to be a time limit in Beach Boulevard.

If it was just time parking, I would say it would have to be a maximum of four-hour parking.

That's where I would put it.

If if we could have a way that it could be less more spaces that can turn over faster.

Our commercial area.

We're the only commercial area around that just has a free-for-all for parking.

We can't have people parking their cars there for a week, two weeks, days on end.

Because that's happening.

I see it every day.

I'm there every day, I watch it every day.

I know exactly what's going on with the parking problem on Beach Boulevard.

And I'd be glad to get with you and help in any way I can to design something that can work.

I have some ideas for 54th and and other places that could alleviate the employee parking.

And my time is running out, so that's all I can say right now.

But this really desperately needs to be addressed.

Thank you.

Next.

We got a line going just so you know.

Yes.

Thank you, Council, Madam Mayor, members of the council, Nat Kitter.

I've lived in Gulfport for 46 years now.

I live at 5320 Havana Court.

I certainly echo Mr.

Shalifon's perspective on paid parking.

I've watched the parking scenario in Gulfport forever.

Madam Mayor, you asked why now.

This is why now.

Okay.

So you have a packed house because parking remains a problem.

The discussion has been had.

It is the can has been kicked down the road again and again and again and again.

Gulfport is essentially a free-for-all.

There is no regulation for parking.

I think four-hour parking is excessive.

I can't imagine the necessity for four entire hours on Beach Boulevard or shore.

I think that two-hour parking constitutes free parking.

I I I patronize many of the restaurants and establishments downtown.

I've never had to sit for two solid hours.

And if I did, I could go and move my car if I really had to do it.

It's not that big of an impediment.

So I don't know of any community in Pinellas County, especially those communities with waterfront access that doesn't have some kind of parking control, the vast majority of which is paid parking.

Unfortunately, it is a reality.

So we had a discussion about the vans, and I don't want to get back into that.

But all we would be doing if we had some form of control, whether it's timed or paid or a combination of both, all it does is give this city the opportunity, the means, the tools to impose some form of control, particularly on those who would abuse the process.

And we all know that people abuse the process.

It's just a sad fact of life.

We would all hope that it doesn't happen, but we're not Pollyanna's here.

We know that it does happen.

That's all we the citizens are asking for.

It's some form of control.

It is a free-for-all out there.

St.

Petersburg charges for parking.

Okay.

So we have what what I would refer to as a central business district, which constitutes beach and shore, and maybe it would be the same district as you would allow Airbnbs and so forth, where employees could get a sticker.

St.

Petersburg does utilize what they call the CBD district, which is a central business district for people who have businesses who don't live in Gulfport who have employees and so forth, so that they wouldn't be restricted by the two-hour parking.

But two-hour parking would benefit the merchants here because it would turn over the people who are here to enjoy what Gulf Port has to offer.

Excuse me, it has a lot to offer, but it should be able to offer it to a lot of people, not just those who park and sit and abuse the system.

Not everybody does that, if it's a minority, but the city needs the tools to be able to regulate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, next.

Hi there, my name's Gloria E.

Hart.

I live in town shores.

Um I don't think that parking is abused.

I don't think that parking should be regulated or time limited.

So I mean, I walk at the beach every morning.

I haven't seen tons and tons of people there.

I walk up Beach Boulevard and Shore Boulevard.

I haven't seen tons of cars staying overnight or parking there all day.

So that's one thing.

The other thing would be, you know, this is about keep golf port weird.

You know, I went to the the Gecko Fest, and everybody was in costumes, and everybody's like, oh, golf port's a wonderful place.

I think part of that is that we do not have paid parking.

So you can go to Samantha in the morning for coffee or to golf parks, my favorite place, which will be coming back soon.

You can hang out there, then you can go to Stellas for lunch and maybe hang out there for a couple hours.

Then you can go to the tap house to listen to music.

So it's a place to hang out.

It's not a place where you have lunch for two hours and then you're out of here.

We have tons of places like that around here.

You can go to Piazza Grill, you can go to Treasure Island, you can go to St.

Pete's Beach, and you can do that, but you're not gonna get the small town environment that we have in Gulfport.

You are not gonna get that.

You're not gonna be able to hang out all day and have a good time and see lots of people you know.

I think that it will change the very fabric of keep golfport weird.

It's all right.

Thank you.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

There is no clapping, no applauding at all, no booze, no hisses.

Okay.

We're all one community, and we're gonna listen equally to everybody.

Thank you.

You're next.

Well, three minutes is probably not enough for me to respond to all the gabbers' responses.

I am one of the troublemakers in the van band.

I drive a luxury SUV, and my car has been on the gabber with its umbrella.

Now, what I will address is since we're talking about parking, if you're all we're talking about, yeah, charge parking, because we're the ones that take up the spots.

There's seven regulars that stay out there in a hundred and one parking spots.

Now, if you want to charge parking, that'd be great.

But the parents that bring their children to the playground, they're not gonna pay for parking.

And if you do enforce parking, you've got to pay someone to meet or made and give tickets out to everybody.

That's gonna cost money.

So, and and also I want to tell you all this.

As I sit with a bunch of elderly, excuse me, sir.

You're talking to us.

Well, you're talking to us.

It came like a thief in the night.

My mother's dementia, okay.

Within one year, frontal lobe dementia attacked my family.

And so that's why I'm out there.

Our house is being for sale, it's under litigation.

You know how long it takes for things to get finished as your city is you know flooded and trying to get everything rebuilt.

That is my situation.

But I have a lengthy response that to anyone that wants to take note of things that I have witnessed and documented.

There's none of us going to the bathroom on the beach.

Um, that's a lie.

No one parks in anyone's residence's driveway.

That's also a lie.

I read that on the gabber.

So, you know, if we We're not the Gabber.

Yeah, I know.

Just so you're clear.

Well, they report on you, you all, and your words are taken and written down.

Um questionable.

Well, quote, they quote you and they quote other members.

I've read it.

Like I said, questionable.

It's accurate.

Oh, it is accurate.

Okay.

Well, to my point, if you know, park, you know, do the parking if you want, but you have to also realize what brings some people out there.

Some of these people that are the van life, they're mostly 60 and 70 years old.

They're your peers.

Some are cancer survivors.

Why aren't any of you going up to these elderly front peers and saying, what can we do to help you?

Can we offer you a drop of water or a crumb of food?

You don't.

That saddens me.

Any one of you could be in the position of my mother at 78 tomorrow.

And you can be homeless like that with one more flood.

So please be kind.

Love thy neighbor as thyself, and you who help the needy will be blessed.

I promise you that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, let's try and keep on topic, and that is timed and paid parking.

Thank you.

Um, yes, Gulfport resident.

When I moved here, we did have decal parking down on the beach.

And if you were a Gulfport resident, I believe you paid a small fee.

Maybe it was free if you showed your power bill.

And then if you were a non-resident, you could also get a decal and pay a higher fee for a year.

So it would be good.

The sticker would be for a year and it was redesigned every year.

It worked great.

Um I'm not for meters.

I think we're a great candidate for a timed parking.

Two-hour parking, somebody randomly chalks it.

And you know, if you've ever parked in timed parking, you actually get more than two hours because you don't park and then somebody chalks right away.

It's usually like whatever, and you can actually go out and move your car, etc.

So it wouldn't cost anyone anything.

But I think two to three hour parking, we can turn over that.

And if you would did want to have coffee at Summitri, you could move your car down to Stella's and have lunch, and you could do that, and it would work fine.

As far as the beach in front of, there's businesses along there and residents and along that roadway there.

I think that my husband addressed the CBD.

We we didn't know about it, but when we parked in St.

Pete the other night, the sign said two-hour parking, except for C by C B D permit, and we have to look it up.

And what it is is the central business district, not CBD.

Um anyway, um, and that did mean if you live or work in the central business district, then you can park there.

And I'm not understanding why our employees aren't welcomed to park in the rec center after hours if they're working night shift anywhere.

I know we've got some employees that walk down our street.

I see them biking down there, so I know that it's tough to get down there, and they probably didn't want to take up spots, whatever.

But maybe the ones who live from away that's too far to bike or walk to work, they can park down at the rec center at night, or they can have one of those stickers, the CBD, and just say, could you please park, you know, down closer to the rec center on the street.

That would give that Airbnb, um, not Airbnb, it's a um an inn at Seabreeze Manor.

If they had customers or if somebody lived there and your son came to visit and you didn't have room in your driveway, you could say, Well, I can give you my tag and you can park on that little area for longer than two or three or four hours or whatever.

But I do think it does need to be back to that some kind of control.

And they used to have, I have 30 seconds left.

I did a deep dive on this, and apparently you weren't allowed to back into a parking spot.

You weren't allowed to park too far from the curb, and you weren't allowed to take up two parking spots, or you get a ticket.

And if you got a ticket for, and there were other numerous things.

If you got a ticket, you had to pay it within 48 hours.

They changed that to 15 days.

But the only thing they left, they took everything away, including paid parking.

There's no regulations.

You can park any which way you want.

You can back in, you can go sideways, you can park the only thing was handicapped, they didn't take.

Alrighty.

Thank you.

Bonnie Sklar and I live in Gulfport.

Um, there probably aren't a whole lot of new ideas, and so there's going to be a bit of redundancy of which I'm about to propose, but I have to say that one, I'm not for paid parking.

Two, I think uh time parking could be something that certainly could be um looked at.

And I have asked, and I think at least April and Marlene both know this numerous times.

Where are the employees parking?

And if the employees, I mean, there's a lot of businesses and a lot of employees, and I really feel, and so people have said this already, that we need to find a place reasonable for the employees to park so that they're not taking up the spots for people who want to go to the businesses, and that it could be.

I mean, the the employer could say, you cannot park on Beach Boulevard, but we have arranged whatever it is.

But I think serious thought needs to be given to that because I have a feeling that that takes up a lot of the space.

So that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And it's okay when folks are coming up and being redundant because we want everybody who wants to speak about parking, we want to hear from you.

Come on up, Joe.

Good evening.

Joe Ginther, uh, co-owner of O'Maddie's Bar and Grill in Golfport on Shore Boulevard.

Um, I'm here on two behalves.

Barbara Banno, um, owner of Stella's.

I know she wrote you guys a a letter.

She wanted me, she couldn't be here tonight.

She wanted me to read a little note.

Um, a note from Barbara Banno.

She was not able to make it tonight.

I regret that I will not be able to attend the upcoming workshop on the paid parking and time limited parking, but I want to share my perspective as a business owner with three businesses on Beach Boulevard.

I'm opposed to paid or time limited parking on beach or shore boulevard.

Free parking is one of the few unique advantages that draws both residents and visitors to our city.

Taking that away would not only reduce this benefit, but also add another challenges for small businesses already struggling with costs, unsettling political climate, and recovering from the hurricanes.

I agree with Barbara on this.

Um I'm representing O'Maddie's now.

Um we are recovering from the hurricanes.

We are struggling.

Shore in 54 is still closed.

It's been closed for a year.

I'm down 30% as a result of that.

Um the city of Gulfport in the history of Gulfport, we've tried this four times.

Four times it hasn't worked.

I remember back in the day when there was a shack at the parking lot to enter the parking lot of the beach and they charge 50 cents to park.

People didn't pay the 50 cents.

They turned around and they parked on the neighboring streets.

And that's what's gonna happen.

You're gonna do paid parking, they're gonna park in the neighboring streets, gonna park in front of people's mailboxes, it's gonna be a whole nother problem.

We've tried it four times, it doesn't work.

We need to come with another solution.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, Tommy.

Thank you.

Uh Thomas Luciano, owner of Tommy's Hideaway.

Um, I'm I agree with Joe.

Uh I agree with Barbara.

You know, I think what's really unique about Gulfport is we have no paid parking.

I don't want to be a downtown St.

Pete.

I think you what we have here is absolutely unique.

It brings people here, people embrace what we have, and they talk about it all the time.

It's a shame that people are getting squeezed everywhere.

You go to Publix, prices are up.

You go to restaurants, prices are up.

Now you got to pay for parking.

Our poor guests, if they want to come and get a lunch, they get a sandwich.

We I try to run deals that they can afford a nice half a sum sandwich, but now I gotta pay for parking.

Now it costs me 20 bucks.

The last thing I want to be is a John's Pass where they're charging 20 bucks.

Now locals don't go there anymore because now if I want to go for lunch, it's 20 dollars here for and then I I gotta pay another 20 for you know parking, and it's 40 dollars, so I'm rather go somewhere else, or I'll go through a drive-through.

I want our guests to embrace Gulfport the way it should be.

And so for me, listen, if you do time parking, I guess that's great.

I mean, we have employees, most of my employees walk, bike, these electric bikes.

We don't have a lot of employees taking up parking spots, at least I don't.

You know, so you know, our guests that are parking there, I think someone mentioned Gulfport's so unique.

You could go to four different places to listen to music and enjoy what we have to offer.

Where else can you get that?

You can't get that anywhere.

We're small town.

Why do we want to be like a big town?

Like, why we got something special here?

Listen, Joe grabbed me.

I was running a shift.

I gotta go back, but I uh, you know, to me, I thought it was worth giving my voice because I think it's important, and you guys play a very big role.

I thank you for what you do.

Um, it's a hard decision.

I just I love what we got here.

I hate to see it change.

Thank you.

Next.

Hey, good evening, y'all.

Good evening.

I'm the treasurer of the Gulfport Merchants Chamber, and I'm speaking on behalf of our membership.

We sent out a survey to our members about what they felt about parking on beach um uh paid parking and the parking issue.

And the and there's really a consensus.

Um we had sorry, let me pull up my notes so I don't misspeak.

So, in short, overwhelmingly unfavorable toward paid parking.

If we do um timed parking, a three hours minimum.

Um, I think that previous speakers spoke to the importance of being able to hop around town when you get down there, and that's a really important aspect of the kind of visitors that we attract to Gulfport.

Um, the other thing is that parking is one of those issues that if it's not addressed holistically, so I appreciate you bringing it up now, and acknowledging that we're not gonna have a solution by next council member meeting.

Um, that if it's not done well, then you just have spillover problems.

And I lived downtown actually right across from the Penn for about a over a decade, and as a resident down there, it was really impossible to find parking in those streets.

And so this would make paid parking would make parking for residents in those areas even more challenging.

Um I would let's see.

The other thing we've talked about uh employees.

I'm wondering as we're thinking through this, what would it look like to incentivize employees or businesses or pull in businesses to incentivize their employees to park in other places in places that we designate?

It sounds like there's a clear call for designating an area that employees can park in, so they're not taking in, taking up the the parking of other businesses.

Most business owners don't want their employees parking on that street.

So let's just get that out there because those are customers, those are customer spots, and so what would it look like to incentivize employees to park in other areas?

And then finally, when we're looking for analogies of Gulfport to other areas, we are not a John's Pass, like a previous speaker said, we're not a St.

Pete Beach.

We're more akin to uh a Grand Central area in St.

Pete where there um and so when we're thinking of solutions, we should look at areas where we really have the same kind of feel, the same kind of vibe, the same kind of integration of business and residential.

Um that and then finally I think it is this is an important enough issue, and this is me putting on my Jennifer Webb hat, not the the chamber, but because this is such an there's so many strands to this issue, doing a like formal evaluate like a parking analysis is probably gonna be very helpful in addition to hearing from residents and businesses.

I really appreciate you hearing from residents first though.

Super next.

My name's Tori G.

I live in the marina district and I work on Beach Boulevard.

Um, thank you for having open forum where we can express our opinions.

Um I really don't have anything new, uh, various things from what each one has said, but I feel so strongly about it that I'd like to express that, and I'm very much opposed to uh the meters or to the time parking.

Um when I as a work as an employee on Beach Boulevard and as a residence.

Um I don't park on Beach Boulevard when I work, um, and there are many, many times in off season when it's extremely slow, there's no one on the streets, and yet there's cars all up and down Beach Boulevard.

And the owners and people have talked about this.

I don't know how you would incentivize or I don't know if you could even pass it's if you work if you're working, you can't park there.

That's a possibility.

But I I honestly believe that would possibly take care of the issue, just having the employees park elsewhere.

There it's not that far.

Now, if everybody started doing it, it might be a little bit more difficult to find a space, but um, I think there's plenty.

You work there, you know, walk a little, you know.

It's it's not that big of a deal, and there is quite a bit of off beach in Shore Boulevard where you can park.

Um, and there's only so many parking spaces.

I agree with the you know, St.

Pete parking and the beach parking, really.

I mean, that does a lot of people don't go because of that.

It's just a hassle.

Um, we only have so many parking spaces, you're not gonna get more spaces by putting in a meter or time.

Spaces are the spaces.

So what it appears to me is that we want to have turnover and more people in that same that one spot that's available.

So rush in, rush out, get something, do something.

Someone had mentioned, you know, I've never spent two hours sitting, you know.

Well, I have many a time.

I I agreed with the woman that talked about going to Summitra or Stellas or spending the day in town, you know.

It's um it's something I think makes us very unique.

Um it's I hear people coming into the business constantly talking about how much it means to be able to come in to have free parking.

It's a statement of who we are.

I think it it expresses our freedom and our free flow and um who we are as a community.

I think it keeps us from becoming too commercialized and looking like everyone else around us, which I know that's changing and it's going to change, but I think if we can hold on to the to the free parking, we'll be holding on to a lot of who we are as a community as well.

They seem tethered together a little bit to me.

Thank you for listening.

No problem, thank you.

Next.

Hi, Karen.

Karen Schwartz, 5213 Delight Avenue South.

I I see that most people are saying they don't want timed or paid parking.

I think time parking is a better idea, but in the in the quick and dirty AI research that I did, it looks like it is cost prohibitive.

So I think that that's one issue with that that uh may not make any sense.

When it comes to the campers, we have places where campers could go and camp.

They could camp, for example, at the marina, which is also beachfront property.

Um there's there doesn't seem to be any kind of legal way to prevent people from living in their cars, and there are people who legitimately must live in their cars because they've lost their homes for whatever reason.

And that's a different story.

That's not the campers who are it's a lifestyle choice.

For the lifestyle choice people, I think there has to be a way to banish them from beachfront parking.

Um I love the idea of pedicabs.

I think that would solve a lot of our problems.

There is outlying parking all over the place.

There are many, many places where you can park.

And yes, Karen, you could call an Uber from the library or whatever.

Um I I guess it's possible.

Um I also think if it comes down to paying or timing vouchers, yeah.

You know, do you validate parking?

Oh, Maddie's would validate parking, I think.

You know, um any of the restaurants where you're gonna be there a while, peeas, you know, do you validate?

Um I also think for real bike racks.

There are a lot of cyclists, and if you go downtown on a Tuesday, you cannot find a place to lock your bike.

It's impossible.

We have loads of room.

I re I actually remarked something at the at the um uh I'm gonna run out of time here before I get my thoughts out.

Um at the at the recenter, the bike rack was full.

And so I asked Maribel, can we you know maybe get another one?

Do you know the next day?

Actually, I asked on Tuesday, on Thursday, there it was.

So we have the bike racks.

Let's use the bike racks where they're needed.

You know, the good kind that go like this.

You're a cyclist, you know what I'm talking about.

Thanks.

Who's next?

Come on up.

Hello, hello.

My name is Bo Sauer.

I live over at Town Shores.

Just a couple things on parking.

I don't know.

Okay, and will you speak into the mic a little bit?

Because we are being taped.

Okay.

Gotcha.

Just a couple things on parking.

Um, I don't know if paid spots is the answer.

I really don't, but my issue is more with the campers that park out and don't move their cars.

Overtown shores, we have a sign on our suite that says no overnight parking 10 to 5.

That's been posted there by along the water.

Now, by the park, you have a sign that says an overnight parking beach closed midnight uh to 4 a.m.

But on the street, as I spoke with a police officer, he said they can't do anything about the cars that stay there for weeks at a time.

And I don't quite understand that myself, but I don't think that helps.

I've heard from the neighbors that live across from there that they're obviously not very happy about that either.

What's going on out there?

I don't know why if you put a sign up on that street, overnight parking, or you put hours on it.

I think that would cut down on some of that.

Just remember your streets are private and ours are public.

Not our street along the water.

That's a public street.

Check it out.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Who's next?

Jennifer.

Hi, Jennifer Donch, Premier Drive.

Um, so I'm thinking of it a little bit less like of the spirit and vibe of all of it and more a little bit logistically.

Um if you're thinking about having metered or paid parking, you're talking about extra resources.

Um, you don't want the police time being spent writing parking tickets or talking tires or anything like that.

So you're gonna hire um parking enforcement, which would be probably at least two full-time employees, a part-time employee, if more than that needed for um like special events or holidays or times when more people might be here, and with that comes all of their benefits and everything that comes along with having extra employees and the software and equipment that they would need to run that whole unit.

So to me, the amount of spaces involved wouldn't make enough money to justify having more employees doing those jobs.

So I get the idea of it, but I don't think that fiscally it would be a responsible thing to do.

Thank you.

Next.

Good evening.

Uh my name is Jonathan Holzberg.

I'm a relatively new um resident here.

I moved here two years ago.

I live down on 46th Street by the marina.

And I haven't really come here with a particular opinion because I'm here to learn.

And as I say, I'm a new resident, but there are three things that I think are important to take into account.

One is as we've heard from the businesses in the CBD who's uh who would be very affected by any parking measure that's just being discussed.

So I'm listening to them and want to know what they say, and we've already heard of some different points of view.

I'm also interested in hearing from the the residents who um rely on their cars to get around, but I'm not very well um financed to find it hard to make ends meet.

But they need to come in to downtown Gulfport, and when they do, I'm keen that we understand the impact of this parking potential parking change on them.

But the the the overriding thing that's on my mind as a new resident is why did I come to Gulfport?

And it's because Gulfport is a unique place that has a sense of uh a real personality that includes a sense of freedom.

And when I talk to my family back home about what's great about Gulfport, one of the things perhaps unthinkingly I say is that you can park anyway, and that's that sort of very much ties in with my sense of what Gulfport is all about.

Gulfport is unique.

Um I'm totally thrilled to be living here now.

I don't whatever decision you take on this, don't make a decision that's gonna change the character of this little town.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Who's next?

Hi, I'm Albert Reisenberg, and I live on 19th Avenue South.

Um I've lived here over 13 years, and I've only parked in these areas that we're taught discussing today like twice because I ride my bicycle.

This is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities that I've ever lived.

Um, why don't we incentivize riding your bike?

Why can't we get these businesses that are struggling to have parking for their patrons to give people discounts if they can show that they rode their bikes?

And of course, I agree we need more bike racks.

I mean, that's happened to me a number of times.

Um that should be priority one for the city, especially on the roads that we're talking about.

The other thing that um I've been, you know, there's been a lot of talk on on Facebook about this, and I've been really reading the comments.

And it's so interesting that people really come to Gulfport, especially the beach.

I mean, if you're gonna choose a beach to come to, we don't have the cleanest water and the nicest beach.

I mean, I love it, of course.

But one of the reasons people come here is because they can park for free.

And if you uh so I'm completely against paid parking, if you were gonna do time parking, you'd have to at least give people two hours.

And I think at the beach parking, it should be longer.

Um when people come to the beach, they want to stay and they want to relax and enjoy themselves.

And of course, you have the control to do that.

Um, so incentivizing riding your bike.

I think that could be a huge, huge thing.

However, the city can uh do that, or the paid, you know, or the businesses.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes.

Hi, Gail Gilchrist, 25-year Gulf Port resident, 43-year Pinellas County resident.

Um, I've heard the parking thing since the day I moved here 25 years ago, and it's back to what somebody said there's only so many spaces.

But I just want to, and I agree, no paid parking, no time parking.

We have signs about no overnight bike parking, but do we have signs for overnight car parking?

I don't know the answer to that.

But anyway, I live six blocks from downtown.

I have a huge driveway.

And during festivals, friends from out of the area always ask if they can park there.

And about nine times out of ten, they find a parking place somewhere closer than my house, which is only six blocks.

So we have a parking issue, but we don't in some ways.

Maybe get the employees out off beach, offshore, but I don't think the parking issue is as big as we think it is.

And I agree we need to keep Gulfport Weird and keep free parking and not drive ourselves crazy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next.

Hello, Courtney Pro Capis.

I'm up by the Stetson area.

Um so the bullseye is parking when we're talking about this issue.

The bullseye is parking, that's a center, that's the core of it.

But the ring just outside of that is accessibility and all modes of transport besides something that requires a car to be moving and then parked for a period of time.

So, Mayor, you touched on this.

Um, such things like clear sidewalks, adequate shade cover, streetlights, safe crosswalks, lower speed limits, designated by language, all of those sorts of things are the things that I would like to consider.

That's right outside that parking.

Um so I do appreciate, Mayor, how you set the tone at the beginning of the meeting saying that it's not about revenue.

Um, but realistically and respectfully, enforced parking is undeniably a revenue issue.

Anytime the city is involved in a transaction, that's revenue.

So all those things and the aforementioned infrastructure carries a cost.

So again, safe safer crosswalks, the infrastructure of the sidewalks themselves, so on and so forth, street lights, you get the picture.

So here's another proposal.

And this could be either in tandem, should paid parking move forward, or just a standalone.

Um, what about requiring businesses of a certain capacity, and you would have to determine what that capacity is, pay an offset fee that would go into a any modes of transport other than cars that are moving and then parked sort of fund.

So that could be something that would help reinforce better bike infrastructure, better lighting for people who are walking, um, or potentially to fund like a little tuk-tuk or a golf cart, something cute that kind of loops around downtown, could make designated stops, so something even more local and cuter and funner and more of a golf port party vibe than the looper.

Um have it stop at town shores.

That's one-sixth of our residents.

So if we can like get them out more easily, great.

Um so businesses, yes.

I realize that this is like putting a target on the back of businesses to give us more money, but they're effective, but they also stand to benefit greatly.

So if there's certain businesses of this size, maybe that's where they stop.

I cannot speak for Joe Gunther, but I can imagine that it would be a very, very popular thing to have the Omaddies stop for the tuk-tuk.

Um, I don't know.

Uh so another proposal um to just to encourage and facilitate the anything but cars that are moving and then static would be to have more regular looper shuttles.

So maybe Friday night, like 4 p.m.

to 11, and not just on the nights of the market, so that people can get it in their mindset of like, oh, it's Friday night, what do you want to do?

I don't know.

Let's hop on the looper and go wander around, or Saturday's days and into the evening.

Uh finally, today is Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

So moving forward, I strongly suggest that the city take that into account and not schedule public meetings during holy days.

Thanks.

And who's next?

Let's like you, Deanna.

Okay, I don't have much near to say either, but I want to reiterate since you said to do that.

Um mentioned about beach parking.

I think it would be a shame to cut the beach parking to a time two hours or something simply because if I take my family and we want to picnic and swim and back and forth.

Uh I have two children that live in the St.

Pete area.

I have a daughter that lives in Denver and is now moved to Missouri the Ozarks.

I have another daughter that brings her husband and comes from London.

A beach day is kind of a big deal to them.

It's cold where she lives.

So when they come to visit me, two hours puts a limit on what would be family time for us, especially if I get all of my children and grandkids together.

Uh as far as the parking for employees, I think that all of the businesses would like to see that.

I would also say if there were a possibility of providing some place for employees to park, maybe also for local downtown people.

Um if you live in that neighborhood but want to be able to come in on a Friday night and it's already full.

If you live in that neighborhood but want to be able to come in on a Friday night and it's already full, is there a safe place to put your car and walk a block home?

Some place that's just for the local community that's not in the way of your tourists.

As a tourist before I lived in Gulfport when I drove into downtown, if I couldn't find anything right on the main streets, I actually did leave because I wasn't comfortable parking in the neighborhoods in front of people's homes because I didn't know what was legal and what wasn't.

And one block would say it was uh permit, and so I just didn't know and I wasn't gonna risk it.

I don't want to pay.

Much as I kind of seem like uh in the past that I've spoken up on things, I'm very much a rule follower.

And I do think a lot of people are.

So those are things that I would mention.

Um as far as issues on the unsavory banners or whatever, are people still parking overnight at the beach in that parking lot?

Because the signs have been up a couple years.

So if there is an issue with any place that's got signs, enforce the signs.

Um not just bicycle racks, but golf cart parking.

A whole lot of the residents have golf carts.

Give a spot that's safe with a camera on it where you can park your bikes and your and your golf carts, and don't take up the main parking with those.

I have a great big van.

I also like to bring my golf cart out.

Um paying for parking, as someone else mentioned, we're not as the same as Pasigrill, St.

Pete Beach, etc.

And our beach isn't as good.

It's pretty to look at our boats, but we're in dirty Boca Siega Bay, etc.

etc.

We are gonna give up our edge.

Um St.

Pete Beach has free beach ride.

I don't know who runs that or how it operates, but that would be something to consider if someone would do the business in town, whether it's pedal carts or some you know, little business.

But I use beach ride all the time over on the beach, and I just tip the driver.

Quick quick question, and this isn't supposed to be exchanged, but I heard that they've now gone to charging for that.

Okay.

I haven't done it recently.

I mean, this was in the last 30 days.

Okay, I haven't I can admit it.

I heard it's three dollars a trip, you know, so I was just checking.

Fixing pipes and doing new house stuff at this point.

I understand.

Before I I know I have one friend who works for them, I'll ping him when I leave here and I'll see what I find out.

All righty.

Okay, yes.

Hello, everyone.

Amy Costa, midtown business collective.

Um, I personally think it would be a mistake to charge for parking.

I agree with what everyone was saying about keeping Gulfport a small, quaint place where people can come and spend a day.

Um, if we had to do timed parking, I do acknowledge that that would be um a fiscal responsibility for the city to hire someone to manage that.

Um, so I think that's just another side of that coin to look at.

Um, I know over the years of the different jobs I've had, you know, parking from employees on Beach Boulevard has always been an issue.

Um, also with our markets, the vendors tend to park in their space because they're nervous of cars driving through their spot and into their tent.

Um, I think a possibility would be to have that parking down at the rec center or somewhere a little further away where there might be a shuttle that could help get the employees and um the vendors to their space safely, especially at night, people leaving their jobs, you know, might not feel so safe walking back.

Um, I think there's a lot of ways.

I think the petty cab idea, the golf cart, there's a lot of sponsorships out there, companies that would gladly slap their logo on a petty cab or a little, I think uh Courtney called it a tuck tuck.

I don't know what that is, but whatever.

I think it that's the same thing.

Um, and so it's not at a cost to the city, and it could be a great business connection for whether it's the chamber or us or another group where we all kind of get those sponsors together and get something in place.

Um, I think charging for parking would change the fabric of our community, and time parking would just create a nightmare for ticketing, all those things that are then going to create more red tape and work for our city when you know everyone has so much more to do.

I think ultimately this issue came up because of the van life people and people wanting stipulations there.

Um, I think we just have to be tolerant of people and appreciative of different lifestyles and acknowledge that as far as I know, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, there haven't been any assaults or or horrible things have been reported or any kind of arrests from anybody down there.

I know people are fearful of things they don't understand, so maybe some education, maybe a conversation with some of the people to hear their story might make people understand a little bit more.

And um just if you don't want people parking there overnight because it is a danger, then enforced assignage, you know, for down there.

But I think um there's definitely some solutions here that shouldn't cost the city anymore or cause our community to have to give up what we all love.

I know there's been nights where I very rarely drive downtown because I can bike or walk, but there have been nights where I've left my car, and I feel safe doing that because I know that I come back in the morning and it's there and I don't have to worry.

Um, and I feel safer knowing that our me and my friends can get ourselves safely home or or whatever.

So some things to think about thank you for being here tonight I know uh you already do so much and we're happy to have you guys here thank you.

Thank you the line's down so who's next yes I'm Aya Hartel uh I've only lived here for the past ten months so I'm a newy um I also don't have much to add to everything that everybody has mentioned uh already but for the record I want to say that I'm against um paid parking or even uh time parking for the same reasons that everybody mentions who is also against it you know I love the way golf port is that's the reason why we moved here and that would change everything.

Uh the one thing that nobody has mentioned is please don't build a parking garage that would be horrific and that's basically everything I have to say.

Thank you.

Yes.

Good evening.

I agree no paid parking and what's your name oh Betty okay um no paid parking it's it would it really would I agree ruin everything.

I would like to s ask about maybe a little bit more handicapped parking um sometimes I have difficulty walking and so if they're all taken up you have to park way up the street you have to bring maybe a walker or you cane and it doesn't work out that way.

The other thing is I find I like to go to veterans parks sometimes and I find that a lot of workers park there.

So that's not very and maybe resident stickers might be able to be used at some point for some parking wherever you decide.

Thank you.

Alrighty who's next yes Laura Laura Oldaney Ninth Avenue South so I am also against paid parking um I do agree with the vibe the whole thing the experience of just you know going to Sumitra or Gulfport Park or the beach and being able to str without stress hang out and have that day unfold and not have the stress of parking in the back of your mind among other reasons.

Also though if if there were ever gonna be any kind of time restriction I think it would need to be at least three or four hours.

I think two hours does put that stress in the back of your mind and I also at this point feel ill equipped to thoughtfully engage in a further conversation on parking paid parking for the city of Gulfport because I don't feel like we have a strong sense of the costs and that point has been made a couple times but I think if you'd like your residents to thoughtfully engage with you in this conversation and I know you probably wanted more opinions and input first but coming with information about how much the different options cost and how that impacts our Gulfport budget would help me be a more thoughtful participant in a conversation about it.

Yes Victoria Jorgensen I live on 28th Avenue South I've had my house for over 25 years.

And honestly I don't have much problem parking most of the time but I don't come during the busy hours so it seems to me as though it's a a scheduling issue on Tuesdays, weekends and evenings I do have a problem when I want to pick up something from Neptunes there's nowhere to park to get it I mean I have to walk a couple of blocks so it would be nice to consider some sort of uh to go spaces maybe for a specific restaurant or maybe a certain number of spaces scattered near the most busy restaurants.

I'm also uh was born in Key West and there we have a conch train that has become part of the the whole city look we could have a gecko train that picked people up from the various uh parking spots and maybe even tell a little story of the history as you go so other than that I think the bicycle idea is a great idea I think uh like in France they have just an area that people just park their bicycles you know all at the same place same thing with the golf courts I think if you could repurpose some of the spaces you could probably get two golf carts in one space and then outlaw golf cart spaces in the main sections.

Thank you.

Perfect thank you.

Next I'm Cheryl Doloff I do live in golf port.

Um hi, I'm Cheryl Dolloff.

I do live in golf port.

I've been here for eight years now.

I prior to that I lived in South Pasadena, and prior to that I lived in Tampa, and my goal was to always get here because of the way the city is and keeping it weird or however you want to phrase that.

Um I am definitely against any type of paid parking, and I think the the time parking, as many people have stated, it will you know have quite a few issues also because you know you don't want to go to the beach for just two hours, and you can literally spend four to five hours downtown just going out to dinner and going to a place to listen to music, and you can spend a lot of time there.

Um I just basically that's the main thing is I just think that's just to keeping the character that is here.

Sorry, my friend's gonna beep.

And um, as far as I'm just gonna say one small thing about the van parking, I I don't think there's that many of them.

I I don't have an opinion on whether they should or shouldn't be there, but I don't understand why we're not using the House Bill 1365 that does say it's unauthorized parking, camping, and things like that.

So maybe they just need to look into that because from what I understand about that is you are not supposed to be sleeping or camping in unauthorized places, it should be like a campground somewhere.

Um but like I said, I mean, I I walk a lot and I don't really see I walk early.

I don't see a lot of people down there, but I guess if I lived there and there was somebody there all the time, that might you know be a problem.

And I definitely think also that if you if you do have the paid parking, it is gonna bring people to the outer streets.

Um when I come down there, I do drive around and look for a parking spot, and a lot of times we do park like a little further because I'm not quite within walking distance, and I'm a little bit older, but uh and I do think that the signage on the side streets are it's very unclear where you can park and where you can't, because some people put signs their own signs up in front of their houses, and you're like, is this really true, or is this just what the people are saying?

So if the signage on the you know, subsiding streets were better, then you could really figure out where you can park.

And that was it.

Thank you.

Sure.

Next, hi, my name is Lisa Kaufman.

I live on Shore in DuPont on Shore Boulevard, and I um but I am against overnight parking.

I've had lots of personal experiences.

I I don't want paid parking.

I love our golf part, but the overnight parking.

I'm raising a child.

Um she just turned 10.

This was about a year and a half ago.

We've had trouble all along, but uh I had for four months people lived right in front of our house between us and the and the playground, and they had a large black dog, and they just lived in their car there.

We called the police numerous times.

My daughter was afraid to go out.

We had to go around to get to the playground.

And I love some of the people that live in their vans, but we don't know if if there's an overnight parking, then we can't say who's allowed and who isn't.

And it was, and I'm gonna say for sure.

I have to, I'm still displaced from the flood, and I will not move back into my house if there's overnight parking.

I will not because I can't do that to my child again.

It was too terrifying, and you know, I I that's it.

But thank you for hearing me.

I'm sorry if this was not appropriate because I don't know.

You're a resident, you're affected.

Did you want to speak in the orange shirt?

I don't know.

Okay, yes, Marilyn.

Um Marilyn McClellan, I'm at 56th Street.

Um, I sounds like everybody's really like we need to keep the way we are.

I don't disagree with that.

I think one of the things I like the idea is about we need incentives for doing something different.

I'd like to see maybe a better bike lane.

After the city council meeting last time, somebody brought up um they called them bike boxes where they've taken a connex box and cut out, and then they posted them online.

They were really cool, they were very artistic, they have a roof over them.

So people that have an e-bike and is concerned about their bike getting rained on, they can all be in one place.

I mean, they were real they were really cool, so I think that's a a good option.

So I think that's a a good option.

The golf port or the golf cart parking for sure.

And that could include motorcycles.

If we had an area that was just for motorcycles, that that would help.

I love the tuk-tuck idea.

I think any of the petty cabs, and that can all add to the uniqueness of golf port.

So that's it.

Oh, I did let I do want to say something.

The gentleman, the first one that said nobody ever violates the sanity rules or whatever.

I was walking my dog one morning over at Ibis Park, and there was a very nice van.

I mean, like an expensive van.

I didn't know if it had been there overnight.

I didn't really care, except that as I was walking by, the back of the van opened up, and then it was obvious somebody was camping, and they went ahead and dumped their chamber pot on the sidewalk.

Who else?

Yes.

Hey.

Hey.

I'm Kathleen Kidwall, a golf court resident.

And I know that many of the businesses were severely damaged by the hurricanes.

Many of the houses in the surrounding areas were forced to build up because they had more than a 50% damage.

And they have to have breakaway walls on the bottom.

I know a lot of the businesses down uh Beach Boulevard don't look, I mean they came back, but they're still really severely damaged, and especially along the beach.

And I wanted to suggest that maybe nobody wants to look at a parking garage.

But I think if it's designed properly, it could be aesthetically pleasing.

The first two levels could be parking, and then there could be the next two levels could be businesses with walk-around verandas up above, and that would raise them up above the beach level businesses, so they they would have a water view also, and then on the bottom level that would hide the parking garage look.

It could be planted with beautiful flowers and plants where you wouldn't really see that it's a parking garage.

Um the other thing I want to I think bright bike racks are a great idea.

Um when we've ever gone downtown, we've never been down there longer than two hours.

So I really don't think it's an issue.

We're not for like paid parking really.

Um the one thing that I would like to bring up though is the birthday parties that happen in the child's park on the weekends.

There's um planned neighborhoods that charge $50 to be able to do a party, even though those residents are allowed to use the pool and the park and everything.

They still have to pay $50 because there's cleanup that needs to be done after these parties.

And we've I've taken my grandkids down after the weekend, and it's been a mess a lot of times in the park.

They just throw their trash everywhere, and because it doesn't cost them anything, they don't really respect the property, and a lot of times there are people who are coming in from other areas.

And I also wanted to talk about the van campers because I myself had a couple experiences with my young grandchildren, six and four, where I was approached by two men that were obviously homeless, and I was very uncomfortable with how they were being very familiar with my grandchildren.

So there are have been incidents, and um it just needs to be you know addressed and thought about.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

I'm getting ready to close public comment, and I don't want to do it if anyone else is going, oh, I'm thinking I want to say something.

See, good evening.

I am Bridget Marshall, and I live in town shores, and I have been a resident here.

I actually just got I'm a snowbird, got my full-time residency in Florida about three years ago.

The politics were kind of bothering me, so I was reluctant in moving from giving up my Maryland um residency to come here.

But I just have one quick well, two things.

Number one, I'm definitely definitely against paid parking.

I think it should remain as it is.

And the second point is a small thing, but uh young lady brought it up, and I think she was the only one.

I thought it was a great idea in terms of you order food, you come by to pick it up, and you gotta go round and round and round to find a parking space.

It might be a good idea.

No, if you remember in front of the post office, it was like a 15-minute parking for post office business, and maybe the same thing could apply in terms of restaurants might have 15-minute pickup for your carry out, would would be a good thing.

And I don't think there's been much emphasis on that, but I think that would be a great idea and something to consider with this whole parking issue.

Very good.

Thank you, ladies.

Mm-hmm.

Anybody else?

All right.

Then I am uh closing public comment.

And um I I think I probably got about five or six newer ideas that I didn't have before, so I appreciate that.

I definitely felt like there were people talking to us as if we had made some kind of decisions.

And uh as I said, not only did are we not making decisions, we haven't even ever had a conversation, and there's no proposals.

It was to hear from you because it had been a long time since this discussion had taken place.

So I'm going to see if uh the other council members want to say anything for wrap-up.

I mean, I felt like there was a very c clear, concise um consensus here tonight.

I I heard it, and I'm gonna let them wrap up.

And um, you know, because I am working on Gulfport 2050, I will be um, you know, it might be six, eight months from now before I come back.

I am working on some plans uh that I will present when I have appropriate visuals and things of that nature to share with you, which would be somewhat of a consensus of what happened at the 2050 meeting as well.

So go ahead.

So I want to address a couple things.

Those of you who have been here for a while know that we had a get-go, um, a little golf cart that the Senior Center Foundation ran.

And they had a couple of problems.

So they had volunteer drivers, you could tip if you want to, it didn't cost anything.

They had problems getting people to sponsor it, and they did make a mistake of buying a vehicle that couldn't handle all of our brick roads.

So it was it an inappropriate vehicle.

Concept was good, people loved it.

They would take you anywhere you want to go in Gulfport.

Um, and I think it ran from like 10 in the morning till eight or 10 at night.

I can't remember.

Um, and also um council member Jackson did a study about um parking meters and parking apps.

But first, I looked into Freebie a long time ago and brought that to council, and at that time, you you know, there was a variety of ways that you could structure it.

The way that we talked about at the time, and again, that could change, it was gonna be about $30,000 a month to do it.

And that would give you, they would provide the cars, the drivers, and it you could set up what you wanted to do.

We were talking about Gulfport and perhaps over to Pasadena for the shops and maybe up to Central to pick up the Sunrunner.

That was the area we were talking about.

So that's still a possibility, and I do believe that they are in St.

Pete Beach charging something for it now.

So I don't know what it is monthly now, because this was a couple of years ago.

Uh but you wanted to know something about costs.

Anyway, what council member Jackson found, she talked to some different companies that that are these parking apps, and um so she said upfront and recurring costs would be a modest estimate for first year implementation is on the order of 50 to 70,000, including setup enforcement devices, signage, and staff overhead.

Ongoing costs could run at minimum 25 to 40,000 a year for vendor fees, maintenance, and incremental staffing.

And of course, revenues dependent on utilization and compliance, and again, whether we said you could be not charged if you were a Gulfport resident or if certain number of hours were free, all of that would make a difference.

And um certainly if we were to do um timed parking that didn't use an app, say the old chalk mark on the tire kind of thing, it would probably take at least two and a half to three staff people.

Um again, then it becomes a a you know, um a budget item that we need to talk about.

And it wouldn't bring in if especially if it was just time parking, it wouldn't bring in any revenue, so it would be a cost to the city.

Um again, it could be a cost that we want to take on because it's important.

I don't know.

Um she had a thing introducing paid parking in previously free zones invites par public resistance, especially if the system feels burdensome, uh, if there's app glitches, enforcement disputes, fines, um, and that kind of so she she didn't recommend it from what she found from studying these apps.

Um also uh so to what I brought up before was to have the area between beach 58th and south of um 28th.

That's now resident only parking from I think 9 to 5 or 9 to 530.

But quite correctly, the signs are not clear.

And especially if you're driving around at night and you see no parking, you don't see the little type that says what hours it is.

So right now you can park in those day those residential areas in the daytime.

But I mean, and not in the daytime, but you can park at night.

But p people don't necessarily know that.

And I drove around that area, and I think I found five houses that didn't have their own off-street parking, either a driveway or parking off an alley.

And so I think that the place we could put um staff people who work um in the shops and stuff, is give them a sticker and let them park in the in the resident only um parking area there because there's lots of parking there, and they could be spread out and wouldn't, you know, if they block somebody's driveway, of course they should get a ticket or get towed.

I mean, that's just normal parking um rules.

Um so that's I think we could easily solve that part of it, and that that could um free up you know a good amount of space potentially.

I'm thinking if there was something else that came to me.

But I I like the idea of the gecko thing.

That really worked.

Um it was fun.

I drove that for a while, and I felt I don't for some reason always kind of wanted to be a taxi driver.

But I I never did that.

But I felt like it when I was doing this, it was fun.

You could talk to people and chit-chat, and you know, it it was really very pleasant.

It was hot because these were not air conditioned, so I would not recommend that.

But it it was fun driving, and um I think a good community service, and maybe there's some way we could do something that's in between freebie and that.

And again, I don't have any idea yet how we would structure that.

But thank you.

I really thank everybody for all of their comments and their input and the ideas as well.

Um, and I agree that having some type of shuttle would be a great idea.

And regards to employees, um, a lot of those things sound very positive.

We've talked about those over the years.

Um, you know, when there's inclement weather, I'm not sure some of those things would work, so I'm not sure we've really honed out to make that happen yet.

Um, but um uh I I end up parking at the library quite often.

And so if any of you aren't aware of that inside secret, it's a good place.

It's it's only a block from 28th, and so then you just have to walk down further.

Um I did want to mention though, because there was a suggestion that um we should be helping the people that are living in their vehicles and in their vans, and um what what some has been referred to as van lifers or campers, um, help has been provided to them.

The VA's gone out there, we have a social worker that's gone out, they've been provided health care services, um, all kinds of different things to help them out.

So I don't want anybody leaving here thinking that you know we need to be providing them with with more than you know was suggested by that individual.

I can appreciate what he was saying, but the reality is that help has been offered to all of them in in many ways.

So um I'm I'm leaving here with a lot of things to consider, and um again I want to thank you.

That's perfect.

I mean, I can't think of a better way to end.

I mean, we've just kind of summarized what we heard.

Um I would like to ask all of you to help in spread the message that when we call and ask for a discussion, that's what it is, a discussion.

I mean, I actually received a a threat.

Uh somebody suggested that I be killed today.

Because I wanted to have this conversation.

So I know nobody here thinks that's acceptable.

So the next time I ask for our public to come in and talk to us to help us know which way we're trying to maneuver this ship, that you help me spread the word that that is exactly what I'm doing as I'm asking, okay?

So meeting adjourned, thank you.