From: Mitch B
To: CITYCOUNCIL-List
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Written Copy of 3A Joint Comment for 6/2/26 Joint City Council Meeting Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2026 12:38:56 PM
Hello,
I’m sorry for sending this late and understand if I missed the deadline. The email was sent but wifi firewall prevented it from leaving my outbox.
I will be making a public comment on item 3A for the 6/2/26 City Council Special Joint Meeting and wanted to share a written copy with linked citations.
Within this midcycle update there is one workforce change that clearly stands out amongst the rest. The increase from 2 to 3 parking technicians is expected to be fully self-funded because additional enforcement brings more money through ticket fines and increased meter compliance than it costs to hire (https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7992494&GUID=5273284E-3E91-423F-9660-1F38613E2636&Options=&Search= ). This is very
unique to this role and it’s important that the city make financially sound hiring decisions such as this when asking the public to consider new taxes through a ballot bond measure.
We should recognize why hiring more parking technicians is such a lucrative decision. Meter compliance is low and illegal parking is frequent and common.
When I bike on Webster or Park I typically get stuck behind an average of 2 illegally double parked cars in the bike lane that I have never once seen before ticketed. Those are each $79 with the new proposed master fee schedule. An enforcement technician could probably rack up $500/hour for the city easily during peak times, but that money is simply just being left on the table if unenforced.
Regardless of positive budget implications, the primary purpose of parking enforcement is to have properly functioning roads which is why parking enforcement is as universally popular as it is. While sometimes there is pushback from motorists regarding street design for active transportation, everybody hates illegal parking. If you frequent the popular community forum, the Alameda Peeps Facebook group, you will know that it has become a tradition to post pictures of driveways blocked by illegally parked cars and each of those posting residents stuck in their driveway is a car owner. Many car owners often frequently complain about being unable to find street parking and street parking is often taken up by parked cars that far surpass the 72 hour rule. Everyday on my way to work I pass by two old rusty project cars that sit in the same street parking spots on 8th street south of Jean Sweeney Park for months. While I have to admit it’s cool that some of these cars are still around, they should be parked in a private driveway or storage facility, not on the public street at the expense of others.
Lastly, while I do want to applaud the city for hiring a new parking technician, it needs to be clearly stated that 3 is nowhere near enough to fix illegal parking.
The nearby city of Berkeley has not 3, but 24 parking enforcement staff and that city isn’t that much larger than ours (
https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Berkeley%20Workload%20Organizational%20Study%20of%20the%20Police%20Department%20%2809- 04-24%29.pdf). Next full cycle budget update, the city of Alameda should make a commitment to hire at least 9 parking enforcement technicians so that the parking budget becomes revenue positive (https://stories.opengov.com/alamedaca/published/QkeOGG5kkqo) and illegal parking ends in Alameda.
Thank you,
-Mitch Ball