![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260623-SJParking-07-BL-KQED.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAdvocates for downtown businesses said the increase would hit the service industry hardest.<\/p>\n
Jun 24, 2026<\/p>\n
Updated 12:38 pm PT<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A parking meter in San Jos\u00e9 on June 23, 2026.\u00a0(Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n
The increase had already been built into the 2026-2027 budget adopted earlier this year, which is part of why it arrived for what was supposed to be routine approval on the consent calendar, rather than as a standalone item with dedicated public input.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a number of small businesses, ground-floor retail businesses, reach out and express their concern over the lack of public engagement on this item,\u201d said Councilmember George Casey, who made the motion to defer. \u201cSomewhere along the line, the ball got dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plan to capitalize on increased nightlife downtown, most recently due to a surge of traffic from the FIFA World Cup<\/a>, ran afoul of downtown restaurant and bar owners, workers and residents, who said during the meeting the increase would hit the service industry hardest and at exactly the wrong hours.<\/p>\n George Lahlouh, an owner of M.O. Hospitality, which operates five bars and restaurants downtown and employs 200 people, told the council the timing of the extended hours was the main issue.<\/p>\n \u201cExtending paid meter hours until 9 p.m. and raising key downtown meters to $4 an hour affects the exact hours when restaurants, bars, cafes, venues and events are working to bring people back to downtown,\u201d Lahlouh said. He noted that 90 minutes of free garage parking \u201cdoes not always cover dinner, drinks, shows, or a full downtown experience. For employees, it does not cover a normal shift by far.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to questions from KQED, the city\u2019s Department of Transportation defended the increase as long overdue. Spokesperson Colin Heyne said meter rates had not been raised since 2014, and that the operating hours for most meters had gone unchanged for more than two decades.<\/p>\n He said San Jos\u00e9\u2019s $2 rate sits below peer cities \u2014 Oakland charges up to $4 an hour, Sacramento up to $6, and San Francisco up to $13 \u2014 and that even after the increase, San Jos\u00e9 would remain tied for the lowest meter rates in the region while continuing to offer free parking on Sundays.<\/p>\n Low rates and free on-street parking after 6 p.m. appear to allow some cars to park for long stretches, limiting availability for other customers, Heyne said. San Jos\u00e9 operates seven<\/a> public garages with more than 6,000 spaces, including roughly 3,600 downtown spaces that offer 90 minutes of free parking, with monthly passes starting at $100. The city also offers a discounted permit<\/a> for downtown employees earning less than 30% above minimum wage, though there is no special meter rate for workers, students or commuters.<\/p>\n Jason Greer, a longtime restaurant manager who said he spoke on behalf of his back-of-house staff, said the rate hike would eat into already-thin wages.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the employees are not making over $20 an hour,\u201d Greer said. \u201cTaking $4 is taking a huge portion of their pay, and it\u2019s inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n David Faria, a small business owner and chair of the SoFA District Committee, a group advocating for downtown businesses, argued the plan assumed the city could pull $1.2 million out of the local economy without changing how people behave \u2014 that customers and workers would simply absorb the higher cost rather than spend less or stay away.<\/p>\n \u201cThat money has to come from somewhere, and it ultimately comes from the pockets of working people and customers who are already stretched,\u201d Faria said. \u201cIf we want a stronger downtown, we should be reducing friction, not adding to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Heather Hoshii, deputy director of the Department of Transportation, told the council most outreach had been done internally, through the budget study sessions, and that an email to the Downtown Association in early May offering a meeting had been missed. The department\u2019s full communications push \u2014 reaching businesses, updating websites \u2014 wasn\u2019t scheduled until July, the month before the change would take effect.<\/p>\n Vice Mayor Pam Foley called that sequence backward.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear the community at large did not know about this increase,\u201d Foley said. \u201cWhether the downtown business association knew or not or attended the meetings, that\u2019s really irrelevant. What is relevant is that the small business owners here didn\u2019t know about it. And really, I think we need to take ownership of that outreach.\u201d<\/p>\n Because the revenue was already counted in the budget, the deferral carries a cost. Budget Director Jim Shannon said the delay would reduce revenue by roughly $150,000 to $200,000. But he said he did not expect any impact on city services.<\/p>\n Councilmember Anthony Tordillos, who represents downtown, floated the idea of spreading a smaller increase across the whole city rather than doubling the cost for the downtown spaces. Foley raised concerns that a citywide change would require far broader outreach than could be done by August. The council also asked staff to study possible parking discounts or set-asides for downtown employees.<\/p>\n Nate LeBlanc, economic development director at the San Jos\u00e9 Downtown Association, had asked for the deferral on similar grounds and noted the proposal skipped a key step by never going before the city\u2019s downtown parking board. He said it\u2019s \u201cprobably inevitable that some new revenue needs to be raised,\u201d but argued the city could find a way \u201cwithout negatively impacting our service industry and our visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Advocates for downtown businesses said the increase would hit the service industry hardest. 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A parking compliance vehicle in San Jos\u00e9 on June 23, 2026. (Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260623-SJParking-04-BL-KQED.jpg\")
Parking meters in San Jos\u00e9 on June 23, 2026. (Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n