The City of Anchorage, AK is ‘moving ahead’ with charging hotels for the loading zones in front of their establishments. They as asking the industry the following questions:
- What is your monthly fee per parking space in a hotel loading zone?
- What is your yearly fee per parking space in a hotel loading zone?
- What is your seasonal fee per parking space in a hotel loading zone?
- Do you have minimum/maximum space requirements in a hotel loading zone? If so, what are they?
- Do you charge an administrative fee? If so, what is your fee?
- Do you have other fees that you tack on? For example: Signage installation, parking meter removal, etc.
Is it just me, or is the timing a tad off here? Hotels are among the hardest businesses hit by the pandemic. Even when we start to recover, tourism and business travel will be slow to increase. Is it reasonable to consider charging hotels for the space they need to help their customers into their lobbies?
Should we not be looking for ways to help these businesses that bring millions of dollars of revenue into our cities, rather than slapping yet another tax on them?
By the way, I love number six above. Cities just love to ‘tack on’ fees to wrench every penny out of taxpayers. This little list was written by the Public Relations and Development Manager for the City’s Community Development Authority. Good way to develop the community, Anchorage. Anything you can do to ruin a businesses life in a time of turmoil.
Why don’t we get things back up and running before we look at ways to make business life more difficult?
JVH
