Parking, Politics, and Pragmatism

Most of my readers saw a note or social media post about my recent application to fill the vacant District 6 seat for Fort Collins City Council, and twice a week it seems, someone in the community asks me how the race is going.  “It’s over!” I say, “and I didn’t even make the interview round.”  

All, it seems, are surprised both by the fact that it’s already over - and most by the fact that I didn’t advance to the interview round.  Those that know a bit about local government, however, are not surprised by the latter - they suspected my application was an exercise in futility.  And so I learned a few things, and I thought I’d share here while it’s fresh, in case any of my readers have local government aspirations in the slow cooker.  

Before I get into my city council story, I want to share that I have always been, and remain, fully committed to the health and prospering of my business, LoCo Think Tank, and to the mission - which is the thriving of Local Community businesses in our region - and eventually - to regions outside of our own.  We’re crazy about connecting and empowering local community businesses, and the inspiration for LoCo Think Tank, at least in part, is the amazingly encouraging and collaborative small business environment in Northern Colorado.  

And - the small business environment is at threat - especially here in Fort Collins.  You’d be surprised how many of my highly successful business owner members live in Fort Collins, but drive to Greeley or Evans to their business location - because Fort Collins made it impossible - or cost-prohibitive - to expand their business here.  

City Council wishes to appear business-friendly, and then they advance local minimum wages - which was narrowly voted down by the last council, but I’m sure will be picked up again - to solve a problem that doesn’t exist - and which would have many unintended consequences. And - they now appear poised to charge for street parking in Old Town after hiring expensive consultants - that appear to have consulted with very few local businesses before recommending the change.  

The justification, it seems to me, is because all the other cool cities do it, and it’s a great source of revenue for the city, and we can’t have people driving around the block and burning hydrocarbons looking for a good spot - and not enough people are parking in the expensive parking garages we built - and so we’ll show them!  Instead of the carrot of making parking garages an attractive option for regular parkers, they’ll use the stick of hourly parking charges.  

Squirrel-chase warning:  One of the funny things about the current system, is that the current two-hour parking zones - which allow folks to freely enjoy a short shopping spree, or a restaurant lunch and quick shop after, or a coffee shop meeting with a client, a job interview, a stop at the bank - doesn’t generate enough parking tickets to pay for the enforcement of it!  All the little cars running around holding up traffic with their parking enforcement lights employ people to drive them, and they cost city wages and benefits, and they don’t find enough people breaking the rules to write enough tickets to pay for even the cost of the staff working enforcement!  And so - what does one do?  Charge for parking, duh! 

I’m sorry to rain on the city council’s parade - but this proposal for paid parking is anti-community, and anti-business - even if only from the perspective of coffee shops!  

Next, a confession - I’m a creature drawn to ease, and to flavor, and to communiity.  

The closest coffee shop to my office gets about 30% of my coffee business - which is substantial, and that is Lima Coffee - they have a great vibe, delicious coffee, easy parking - or, from my office, an easy 7 block walk, and it’s always at least half full of people no matter the time of day - it’s a community building environment.  And I would guess that somewhere around half of the people buying coffee at Lima are people like me - they’re doing business of some sort while they’re there.  Ginger & Baker gets a similar share of my business, for similar reasons, but rents a big parking lot from Mawson’s Lumber for parking - which I’m guessing the city does not subsidize. 

In both locations, and the many other local shops I patronize - many of the customers are work-from home start-up owners, or remote workers, or established coaches or consultants, and they head out for coffee, free Wifi, and to find community.  Others are bankers or real estate or insurance agents, meeting with clients or prospects, and they want to meet at a neutral site - and to have great coffee - and be in community.  

Would these work-from-home start-up owners go to a coffee shop for 3 or 4 hours a day if they had to pay $6 or $8 extra for parking?  Doubt it.  Cash is king - and at least when I spend $6 or $8 at the coffee shop I know I’m supporting a local business, and that I’ll have community.  What do I get for paying for parking? - other than annoyance?  

Would I pay $2 extra to park and pop into Old Town Spice Shop for my favorite spice I recently ran out of on the way home from the grocery store to go make dinner? - or would I buy an acceptable substitute at the grocery store?  I dunno.  I might - but I’m drawn to ease.  Certainly - some would decide not to stop in, and others might just order online!  But - they don’t get to interact with the staff, or to see a new spice mix Sean has created - and guess what, when you buy it online that’s another lil bit of petrol burned by whomever delivers it.

So, to me, introducing paid parking in Old Town Fort Collins is basically a taking - of revenues from those downtown shops and restaurants, of value from property owners, because there will certainly be increases in vacancy and downward pressures on rents, and potentially, a taking of the county’s property-tax revenue, as these property valuations come in lower in the future. 

But - I digress - I haven’t even talked about my city council application yet! - and so, if you, like me - think paid parking in Old Town is a bad idea, you can check out this website and add your voice to the community:  https://www.focoparking.com/

One thing that was interesting to me about the District 6 vacancy was the simple and ambiguous process by which the seat would be filled.  Apply by 12/31/25, the sitting council will select the top 5 candidates at a special meeting on January 13, and then the winner will be selected and sworn in on January 14.  Bada bing, bada boom - no fundraising, no walking the neighborhoods kissing hands and shaking babies, and you get to serve through the end of term in 2027.  It was weird to me that the citizens of District 6 didn’t have a say in it at all, but so it goes.  Trust the process.  

And so, I did a LinkedIn post and also an Instagram reel, and encouraged supporters to email their city council person and tell them I’d be great.  Members of my Rotary club asked what they could do to help, and I told them the same. 

So, at the council meeting on the 13th, the new council members were sworn in, and then there was a 40-minute mingle and networking break in the lobby, and then the applicant consideration would be the final portion of the meeting.  

As the networking part of the evening continued, I was encouraged by some of the chatter.  Former councilpersons and community leaders shared that they saw my name in many emails from Fort Collins citizens who’d seen one of my social media posts on topic.  In my view, the process was awkward at best - my boss if I won the seat in my eyes was the residents of District 6 - but the decision makers were to be the incoming council.  

I considered outreaching to the sitting and incoming council members to introduce myself, perhaps have a chance to meet them and sell my skillz, but honestly I avoided that because it felt like going around my bosses back (the residents of District 6) and lobbying the other middle managers for the job.  And so, I told my supporters to drop an email, the endorsement of others seemed to carry the most weight from my perspective.  

Back in chambers, the next step was opening up the microphone to allow endorsements of candidates by community members….ohhh, damn - I shoulda asked people to do that instead!  

So, we listened through 3 minute pitches from a dozen or so folks, including one applicant who signed up to pitch for herself, and then it was time for discussion and selection.  

Our newly-minted Mayor Pro Tem, Julie Pignataro, made the first motion, which I’ll paraphrase.  

“We got many qualified applications for this vacant district seat, and it seems that almost everyone who applied would make an amazing contribution to this council.  But - 4 of the applicants took the initiative to reach out to and meet with each of the remaining and incoming city council members personally, and to me, that sets them apart.  Therefore, I’ll make a motion to advance those 4 initiative-showers to be among the top 5 finalists.”

The next few council members to speak echoed the 4 initiative-showers comments, and added one or two further names for consideration, then there were 2 minutes of discussion on the 5th finalist, and boom - I was out on my ear! 

I guess I should have lobbied for the role like the 4 initiative-showers did, they could have skipped the 2 minutes of discussion!  But I dunno, it still feels icky, should a person do things that feel icky if it’s more likely to give the outcome you’re seeking?  I guess that’s politics.  

Probably when they learned about my North Dakota upbringing, and my libertarian-leaning values, I’d have been de-selected anyway, and they would have had to discuss why 4 of the 5 initiative-showers were appropriate as finalists.  It seemed to me that the discussion was already had before the city council meeting was held to enshrine the decision, but maybe that’s just sour grapes.  

So there you have it, my very-short dabble into local politics.  I think I’m more a fan of the armchair blog-writer and business advocate seat, but who knows what November 2027 may bring.  Thanks for reading, and for being awesome!