Burlingame businesses oppose parking meters

BURLINGAME

Business owners near the Burlingame Avenue train station are saying "no" to the city's proposal to install parking meters on West Lane and they plan to tell City Council members on Tuesday.

Gary Doss, leader of Burlingame Residents Against Caltrain Expansion (BRACE), said it is unfair for them to have parking meters when Mike Harvey, of Mike Harvey Honda, will continue to lease a portion of West Lane from Caltrain -- without the meters.

He said Friday he was "pressed" by the city to pick metered parking, instead of all-day parking.

"It was like the choice of being poked in the eye, or kicked in the shins," Doss said. "(Parking meters) is not a solution we would want. We want the city to give us the same consideration to continue what's been a 30-year lease for that strip of parking in this area."

The city worked out an agreement with Caltrain to provide public parking on West Lane, after business owners said that taking away their parking would force them to shut down their stores.

"We've created an opportunity where they could park," said Syed Murtuza, city engineer. "The (meters are) how we regulate it."

He knows that BRACE wants free parking.

"In downtown Burlingame, everyone pays for parking," Murtuza said. "They want some sort of guaranteed parking, but the city is not in the business of giving special treatment. The city can't do that."

The plan is to set the parking time limit to six hours and at 25 cents per hour.

The project will improve both Burlingame Avenue and Broadway train stations. South Lane, near the Burlingame Avenue station will be closed. For both stations, there will be new platforms and shelters, and public address and visual message systems. Crossing gate "down time" would be reduced, and people would be able to board the trains from either side of the track.

The meeting is at 7 p.m., at City Hall, 501 Primrose Rd.