Mark Dundore has a problem, and we all need to help fix it.
You see, Dundore is working to get his new business, The Douglas Outpost, off the ground. But customers aren’t allowed to shop in his store because it doesn’t have off-street parking. Instead Dundore wheels his goods in and out of his 800-square-foot shop, which currently serves as little more than storage space.
Not many businesses in Douglas have on-street parking, many have been grandfathered in and don’t have to stick to the City and Borough of Juneau’s land use code that requires a business such as Dundore’s to have three off-street parking spots, as the Empire’s Lisa Phu reported on July 28.
Among all the complaints we here about parking few, if any, have to do with Douglas.
But how do we fix this? The answer is simple: Douglas needs its own multimmillion-dollar parking garage.
We’re kidding — hourly shuttle service from the the downtown garages to Douglas would be fine.
Or, and we apologize if this seems radical, the city could grant Dundore and other businesses like his permission.
Downtown Douglas is operating with a different set of rules than downtown Juneau. This makes little sense considering we all know where parking problems persist. If city officials are unwilling to alter the land use code in its entirity, it should at least make exceptions where they make sense and pose no detriment to the general public.
Dundore took his problem to the Assembly on Monday, and serveral members seem willing to take action. What you can do is show support to these officials and demand action sooner than later that supports small business.
Like we witnessed with the Gehring Nursery School in 2015 when land use codes threatened its existence, change for the better is possible. Our Assembly members are willing to listen and take action. The problem is they act with the speed of government, which is long enough for a business to open and then permanently close its doors before change occurs.
Now isn’t the time to deter small business; we need to maximize local jobs and spending all we can. The state may control the future of a quarter of our jobs, but the rest falls us on and how we respond in situations like Dundore’s.
