I was contemplating making this a “sign of the day” post, but I decided to focus on public vs. private parking in downtown Walnut Creek instead. The sign says, “PRIVATE PARKING” at top, and right below, “PAY PUBLIC PARKING”. Is this confusing to anyone?
I’m so used to these signs that I never really pay attention anymore, but it is somewhat bizarre, isn’t it? How could there possibly be both private and public parking in the same spot!? I believe what it means is that the City of Walnut Creek farms out these public spaces to a private company who manages them to earn revenue for both the company as well as the city, but I can only imagine the confusion to visitors to Walnut Creek. Maybe the wording could be changed, instead of “PAY PUBLIC PARKING”, to “CITY OF WALNUT CREEK” or something.
*UPDATE* A reader below notes that, “these are privately owned parking spaces that are made available for public use, for a fee. The City has nothing to do with enforcement, collection or revenue.”
In that case the sign should be changed from, ” PAY PUBLIC PARKING” to “Parking Meters Available to Public” or something.
The parking garage situation in downtown Walnut Creek is another confusing anomaly because the private garages are free, and the publicly own garages are fee-based. I bet there are quite a few visitors to Walnut Creek who assume the public garages are the best deal available. Or am I off base here?