Dear Mayor Cromwell and Commissioners Carter, Dever, Schumm and Aymx,

My name is Constance Wolfe and I am the founder of Lawrence GiveBack.  GiveBack is a buy local program that is designed to raise awareness of the importance of keeping dollars local as much as possible that also raises funds for local charitable organizations.  So far, over $10 million has been re-circulated in our local economy within the program which has generated $110,000 for local charitable organizations.

I an effort to raise awareness about the important of shopping local, I would like to host an event on a typically slow period for the downtown retailers and offer free parking to shoppers for a day.  Say for example on a Tuesday or Wednesday, maybe in June.  Sometime after KU graduation and a day that would help to generate business on what would normally be a slower day.

Downtown advocates will tell you that people say parking is one of the impediments to coming downtown and shopping.   So we thought it would be fun to offer a day of shopping where the parking is “on us” and encourage people to use their GiveBack card and support local charities and local merchants. 

I plan to promote this event to invite people to come downtown for free parking and enjoy double points on their GiveBack card and or double the charitable donation their spending with member merchants generates. 

As a board member of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, I have discussed this with other board members as well as board members of Downtown Lawrence Inc., and have received very favorable responses.

I inquired with Jonathan Douglas as to how many parking meters there are on Massachusetts Street between 6th and 11^th and what the typical occupancy rates and retail value is in a given day.  He informed me that there are approximately 436 meters and that hours of enforcement are 9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. The meters are all 2 hour meters (except for a handful of 15 minute meters) with a rate of $0.25 per half-hour, which would equal $4.25 if they were paid all day.  Monday – Friday mornings: 66% full Monday – Friday afternoons: 80% full.

I would like to ask you what you would consider charging Lawrence GiveBack for a day of parking to put together this event and what it would take to implement it logistically.  I was thinking that we could provide some sort of signage on the meters that would say something like “no change needed, parking is on Lawrence GiveBack today.”   

I look forward to hearing from you soon,

Constance Wolfe

Founder, Lawrence GiveBack

CC: City Manager, David Corliss