With a jump in paid parking rates coming to Broadway at the end of the month, a local business owner is trying to gather support to force Mayor McGinn to rethink the extra buck an hour SDOT is planning to start charging for paid parking in the core of Capitol Hill.
Lisa Chang of Trendy Wendy and Broadway Boutique has posted this sign and taken to her social media channels to get out the word that she thinks Broadway shouldn't get stuck with the planned $1 increase and the introduction of paid parking until 8 PM. Here's one of her comments posted to Facebook:
That's what we're trying to do right now, just beginning and encouraging everyone to contact the mayor's office, he just LOWERED parking in UDistrict from pressure then raised ours underhandedly, not taking this anymore. Our zip code of techies, gays have a higher per capita income, it's also discriminatory thinking we can take the hit when in actuality, there are blocks of empty spaces and other businesses doing everything to keep the neighborhood going like me
There has been a great deal of concern -- and investment -- related to maintaining Broadway as a business district as the massive Sound Transit light rail project disrupts the area and ongoing trends push the ebb and flow of business growth into other areas of the Hill. There are also the ongoing challenges faced by independent retailers -- we reported yet another Capitol Hill shop going out of business just last week. For Chang, the increase in parking rates seems like a low blow. "Broadway owners protest Mayor's unfair rate hikes while we need help during construction," goes the message she started spreading via Twitter this weekend.
We've posted on some of the potential benefits of paid parking programs to local merchants in the past.
Trendy Wendy is located at 211 Broadway East.
