Ideas to Raise Revenue

By Casey J. Lucius

We should explore the possibility of tennis tournaments, parking meters, and opening the Taylor St. DLI gate.

Pacific Grove needs to generate more consistent revenue. I have a couple of ideas that will be low impact on businesses and citizens, but could be significant for the City. First, the City Council should coordinate with the Commanding Officer of DLI to keep the Taylor St. gate open at night and on the weekends. Currently, there are two other gates open and both lead to Monterey. If the Taylor gate were open for the students who live on DLI, those students could easily walk into Pacific Grove to shop and dine in the Forest Hill area. Second, Pacific Grove could privatize the tennis courts and invite tournaments at this location. Some slight modifications would be needed, including adding showers and bleachers, but this would be a way to enhance tourism, bring a new clientele to Pacific Grove, and better utilize the existing tennis courts. I am told by friends who play tennis that our courts are nicer than Monterey, but Monterey has successfully held tournaments there, while Pacific Grove has not. Finally, Pacific Grove could install parking meters in parking lots downtown. Today there is great technology such that meters can produce tickets allowing people to park for free for the first hour and be charged for the second hour. This would allow residents who simply want to run errands downtown to still park for free, while others can pay for the convenience of parking longer.

I believe these are options that are worth exploring, and should be included in a more comprehensive economic development plan for Pacific Grove.