IT would be interesting to know exactly how much Money was lost in this useless "Pilot program "

It wouldn't be too hard to find the cost of this boondoggle if you really wanted to. It's all public information. It would just take some time.

Here's my "back of the envelope guesstimate.

$75,000 is what they claimed it cost. That probably paid for the signs, poles, and permits. Maybe the mailers too.
$20,000 fully loaded approximate cost of two streets workers taking 4 weeks to install signs, not likely included in the cost estimate.
$88,000 Staff time to implement program.
$15,000 for three meter maids over 16 event days, probably being paid overtime.
$5,000 lot attendants.

That's a shade over $200K and I think I'm being conservative with those numbers.

Offset that with about $10K in tickets and MAYBE $10K in lot revenues and you have a net cost of nearly $200K still. Even with a HUGE margin of error, it's obvious that this program was, and still is, a joke.

Why is it that only John Inks can see through the haze and call a spade a spade?

But what can we expect from a council trying to shove BRT down our throats...

John McAlister is correct, in my view. The residents pay ALOT of money to live downtown. If parking in front of your own house becomes an issue because of lack or foresight on the City's part, there will be lots of complaining people at the meetings.

I do not actually disagree with extending the pilot one more year. Although you would think one year would show what the situation would be, that just is not always the case. People were exited the first year and ready to bring their cars. Now, not so excited anymore, parking is terrible and expensive at the ballpark - so, they look for a better alternative. How about Mountain View?

Why are we worried about parking when we still have gun and ammo stores here in MV. Lost money on parking is not even close in importance to loss of life enabled by the weapons profiteers. What can be done to close them down?

Regardless of whether or not the program is a boondoggle, I wonder why the cost of the parking permits isn't set so that it covers the costs of the program.

I don't think that this situation will repeat itself this coming season, given that the Niners will be somewhere between mediocre and horrid...

I've taken light rail to Levi's stadium and chatted with people on board about parking. Most say that parking was easy and close, and when I ask about how they get their permits or pay they ask "pay? I never pay and never get tickets, I thought it was fine to park on the streets downtown". A few say that they had to park 3/4 mile away to find a free parking spot and that it was a long walk to get to light rail. I have not met anyone who bought a permit or got a ticket. When I point out the signage people joke that they need binoculars to read them, so they ignore them. My informal summary: it affects neighborhoods and is a big waste of money for the city.

In more positive news: light rail works great getting to/from the stadium (though it's often crowded & standing room only, it sure beats dealing with traffic and parking in Santa Clara!).

>Why are we worried about parking when we still have gun and ammo stores here in MV. Lost money on parking is not even close in importance to loss of life enabled by the weapons profiteers. What can be done to close them down?


There haven't been any gun deaths lately--except in Sunnyvale who passed tough laws on buying ammunition and a retroactive law banning certain magazines.

This was stupid idea based on unfounded fears. The biggest impact is on residents that want to come downtown and watch the game at a sports bar. The only people using the LR system are MV residents and maybe some Los Altos residents. I decided to park elsewhere to catch LR to the stadium. It wasn't worth the hassle of boarding at Castro. I talked with other residents and they are doing the same thing .

Only Inks is able to make decisions that make sense. As to parking in front of your house, it is a public spot open to anyone on a first come first serve basis .

This is one more example of incompetent bureaucrats imposing rules that do more harm than good.

If people want to blame someone for why residents are not charged to park in front of their own homes, you can blame me. The night after the program was first discussed, I actively campaigned against the idea of the entire paid parking program. However, knowing that it would likely pass over my strenuous objections, I argued that residents should not have to pay to park in front of their own homes if it was implemented, and passed out over 3000 flyers (which I printed at my own expense) in downtown MV warning people that residents might have to pay for parking. This resulted in a flood of emails to the city which may have had an effect on the final decision.


Jim Neal
Old Mountain View

@Sparty Don't feed the trolls.

The problem is now more crooks stop off in MV to buy ammo to commit their crimes. We should join Sunnyvale and restrict this dangerous trade.

I'd also like to see more audits of our local gun stores. I'm sure they are breaking the law to line their pockets.

What do guns have to do with game day parking?

Anyhow, the parking fears turned out to be completely unfounded, and we don't need this program, nor do we need any more complicated parking signs with dates on them, please scrap this thing, city council.

“Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” - Milton Friedman

Why would anyone go to Mountain View to catch light rail? Why not not take Cal Train from any other station to light rail or go directly to another light rail station. There is 0 reason to think everyone would go to downtown Mountain View to park. I said it last year when this topic came up. Waste of time and money and I am pretty sure there is an ulterior motive.

That's really cool. I would be interested in seeing more graphs of different information you pull from these logs.
http://gtaonline-argent.com

People have learned the VTA ride from the east of the stadium is shorter and less hassle. West has too many cars street and other delays.