In the market for used parking kiosks? Paso Robles has 35 for sale after ditching paid parking

A little over a month after ditching paid parking in downtown Paso Robles, police Cmdr. Caleb Davis is tasked with trying to resell or repurpose the 35 parking kiosks the city had previously installed.

So far, he hasn’t had much luck.

“Like any other city asset, there is a process that we need to go through,” Davis said. “We can’t just throw them in the trash.”

The kiosks were placed in 2019, but after only five years, they were discontinued when the City Council voted to end the paid parking program in May after a group of local business leaders and residents spoke out against the program.

Vendors, including the Main Street Association, were concerned that requiring shoppers to pay for parking would decrease their sales. In May, several told the Council that the period starting in February — when paid parking was paused due to Templeton resident Gary Lehrer’s cease-and-desist letter — was among their better for business, with sales up significantly compared to months prior.

After a campaign to put the issue of parking on the ballot gained steam, the City Council opted to discontinue paid parking. It even began offering refunds for paid parking sessions that took place in the past year and for parking citations that were issued due to a failure to pay. For more information on that program, visit the city’s website.

Now, Davis said, the city is looking to try to sell the kiosks back to their manufacturer Flowbird, a parking company based in France — or sell them to another city.

The trouble is, the kiosks are all programmed to work together. So any city or vendor that purchases the machines would either need exactly 35 kiosks or it would need to pay an extra fee to have the kiosks re-programmed to work in a larger or smaller area.

“Somebody has to need 35 meters,” Davis said. “And I don’t know anyone yet.”

Paso Robles mayor slams decision to end paid parking: ‘I am absolutely done’

Davis isn’t the only one dealing with the aftermath of the dissolution of paid parking.

In a statement to The Tribune, Paso Robles Mayor John Hamon said he was disappointed with the end of the program and was pessimistic about the city’s ability to accommodate demands for parking in the future.

“I was disappointed by the many who supported the plan and had said they really liked finding a parking space, but when it came to making a difference during public hearings, their silence was deafening,” Hamon said. “It appears this is how a small group of Roblans with little business sense wants to manage downtown public parking for their own gain or in reality, loss.”

He concluded: “I am sorry but for me, I am absolutely done with parking.”