Downtown Parking Services Revamped to Benefit Customers and Businesses
Downtown San Leandro is back in full swing and ready to welcome visitors! This past weekend, thousands in the community joined together to (re)Discover Downtown, enjoying music, a maker’s market, a scavenger hunt, children’s activities, food trucks and local brews.
Construction on Centro Callan, a new residential and retail project is underway, Fieldwork Brewing has opened their new brewpub, and a handful of new restaurants – including Ike’s Sandwiches, Nick the Greek, Joe’s Pho, and iHop – are on their way.
To better serve Downtown customers and businesses, we continue to enhance Downtown parking. Beginning Monday, September 19, 2022, our new parking enforcement vendor, LAZ Parking, will begin services. They will provide a two-week transition period when they will provide public outreach, customer re-education, and issue warning citations to help people adjust. Not familiar with the Downtown parking regulations? You can find a map below and more info at ParkSL.com. You can also easily pay for parking on our new smart meters or by using ParkMobile app.
Over the past several years, the City has been implementing its Downtown Parking Management Plan, including optimizing the Downtown Parking Garage, Downtown Parking Meters and Parking Permits, serving the community’s parking needs. The program is now undergoing a revamp to improve these services in order to maximize parking efficacy and encourage activity in the Downtown area.
ParkSL, the City’s award-winning website for parking resources, was also part of this implementation. The site provides information on parking permits, zone restrictions, parking meters, and the parking garage. Contacts can be found for questions about permits, citations, enforcement, and issues with parking meters or pay stations.
The ParkMobile app is still active and available for paying at all parking meters and at the Downtown Parking Garage via your smart device. A number of upgrades are also coming to the smart parking meters at Pelton Center, and there are plans to install more credit card-enabled meters along E. 14th Street, Parrot Street, and Washington Avenue, and to remove underutilized meters on E. 14th Street North of City Hall to the Oakland border.
The Downtown Parking Garage is located at 120 Estudillo Avenue, and serves the Downtown by providing hourly parking on the ground level ($0.75/hour), daily parking on the third floor ($2.50/day), and permit parking on the second and third floors (the fourth floor is temporarily closed). These fees are applied from 8AM until 5PM daily, except on Wednesdays, when paid hours end at 3PM to allow for Farmers Market visitors to park without having to pay.
Washington Plaza continues to offer free 2 hour parking to customers. There is no reparking and vehicles must move to a different zone after 2 hours. For Downtown employees, there are employee parking permits in place to help with safe and affordable parking. Employees may park in designated areas, primarily the parking garage, and on the East side of Hays Street along the rear of Washington Plaza. Washington Plaza and Safeway employees have their own permit designation ($15/month) in order to make use of designated off-street spaces to the rear of the buildings. Low-income permits ($15/month) are also available for those earning minimum wage.
That’s the way to get more people to shop or dine downtown – make them pay for parking!! NOT!!
As a 40+ year San Leandro resident, will spend gas money to park free in another City before I’ll pay for parking.
What a waste of time and money!
To clarify – no new paid parking is being added. In fact, the net number of parking meters will be decreasing. The paid parking that exists has been in effect for years. The biggest revamp is the change in contractor to manage the existing system.
Won’t be eating or shopping downtown if I have to pay. Will spend my money in other cities where they don’t charge.
To clarify – no new paid parking is being added. In fact, the net number of parking meters will be decreasing. The paid parking that exists has been in effect for years. The biggest revamp is the change in contractor to manage the existing system.
So sad you will ultimately hurt your revitalized downtown. So glad I can still shop & dine in Castro Valley & not pay to park! Truly shaking my head trying to figure out how this makes financial sense for anyone except the new parking vendor.
To clarify – no new paid parking is being added. In fact, the net number of parking meters will be decreasing. The paid parking that exists has been in effect for years. The biggest revamp is the change in contractor to manage the existing system.
This sounds great! I’m happy to see a good plan as downtown grows more vibrant. We have been enjoying the transformation since we moved here some time ago and really look forward to more. Having an opportunity for validated parking would be a great addition, if feasible.
Where is Nick the Greek going?
Nick the Greek will be at 1509 E. 14th Street, where Luke’s Grill was.
what doesn’t make sense. If your going to spend money in the places, you better limit your shopping or be very quick. If your elderly, need to say eat at Nat I Nations; shop at CVS, and need groceries at Safeway. 2 hours is not enough time. So plan on another $53.00 for the citation your going to be spending in downtown San Leandro. For shame!
This was posted in 2022. It is now 2025.
I have owned a business downtown and this has HURT our business drastically as well as our neighboring businesses.
The parking garage they expect us to pay monthly to park in is neither SAFE or affordable considering the high amount of crime, homeless, drug use, and car break ins that happen there. The SLPD officer I spoke to about this said HE HIMSELF would NEVER suggest anyone he knows to park in that garage knowing the amount of crime they deal with in there.
The Hayes street parking has been a location that my car itself has been broken into, yet the city claims that’s the “safe” place we’re supposed to park.
When crime was high in our business parking lot (public parking enforced by LAZ) we let SLPD know that we need more patrolling there to ensure our properties safety and to deter crime. They just keep saying they don’t have enough officers to do that yet they have the parking enforcement there DILLIGENTLY ticketing all our employees and customers.
Our business provides services for our customers that last for more than two hours. What are our customers supposed to do if they’re only allowed to park for two hours and not re-park unless it’s many blocks away?
We are losing business as a result. We are losing employees as a result. And when this is brought up to the city their responses show they only care about the money generated by citations or parking permits and don’t care about the safety of its citizens or how it effects the businesses the city claims to care so much about.
This is exactly the way to drive out all the small businesses that make up the cultural fabric that made San Leandro so great. Great job………at sucking.
If the result you’re looking for is having businesses leave for other cities and customers spending their money in other cities, you’re right on track because this is exactly what is happening.
Smarten up.
Everyone is realizing that the city officials behind this and LAZ themselves value taking money from the citizens moreso than providing safe and easy ways to park for its citizens businesses employees and customers.
Corruption at its finest.