More than two years after a man fell to his death from a San Luis Obispo parking garage, the city is looking to add safety upgrades to its existing parking structures and the future garage planned in the Cultural Arts District.
The San Luis Obispo City Council voted unanimously at its June 21 meeting to approve the parking expenses. They include $1.4 million for the new structure and $200,000 for the existing buildings.
“We have three people that have died falling from these parking structures in San Luis Obispo, and I would really like to see this not happen to anyone else,” Atascadero resident Mary Jane Jodry told The Tribune. “The last one was my son two and a half years ago.”
Her son, 21-year-old Thomas Jodry, died after falling from the third floor of the Marsh Street parking garage in San Luis Obispo in September 2019.
The cause of Jodry’s death was ultimately ruled “undetermined,” but his family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against David Allen Knight, who had been drinking with Jodry before he died.
Mary Jane Jodry feels there are several areas in which the city can improve the safety of its downtown parking structures, and has attended council meetings and met with city staff to talk about safety.
Thomas Jodry (known as Tommy) died in a fall from the Marsh Street parking garage in San Luis Obispo on Sept. 14, 2019. David Middlecamp dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com
Do SLO parking structures need to meet new safety standards?
The parking structure on the corner of Palm and Morro streets opened in 1988, while the Marsh Street garage opened in 1990 and expanded in 2002. The city’s third parking structure, also located on Palm Street, opened in 2006.
The report laid out a maintenance project plan for these structures, which included repairing cracked concrete, loose barrier cables, and deteriorated concrete joint sealants.
But renovating the old garages is difficult, city parking program manager Gaven Hussey said.
Because the structures were built before many safety standards were put in place, he said, the city isn’t required to update them under state and federal law.
The older section of the Marsh Street parking garage has open windows, the newer annex on the right has many of the windows covered with screen. Mary Jane Jodry asks for safety improvements at city parking garages May 10, 2022; her son Thomas died in a fall from the Marsh Street structure. David Middlecamp dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com
The City Council recently approved funding to look at adding safety elements such as call boxes to older structures, Hussey said, but it’s unclear when these added safety renovations will go into place. The city is currently assessing what safety elements are the most feasible to add.
Call boxes are concentrated in the expanded part of the Marsh Street structure and the 2006 Palm structure.
Hussey said call boxes allow people to connect with law enforcement, especially when they are alone.
In order to prevent deadly falls, Hussey said San Luis Obispo is looking at adding cabling and netting to its parking structures.
The city recently added gating around heating and cooling units on the top floors of structures, he said, as well as signs displaying the phone number for a suicide prevention hotline.
“We do understand that things are going to happen, but whatever we can do to help mitigate those incidents in our parking structures is our goal,” Hussey said.
Signs are posted on parking structures in San Luis Obispo offering help for depression May 10, 2022; Thomas Jodry died in a fall from the thirdl level of Marsh Street structure. David Middlecamp dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com
Cameras in parking garages are a difficult task, city says
One of the key changes Jodry would like to see in San Luis Obispo’s parking structures is more security cameras.
Security cameras currently only cover pay stations, so when an incident occurs it is difficult to find out what happened.
“If people saw cameras, they wouldn’t even hang out in here,” Jodry said, adding that cameras could also help with preventing loitering and crime.
According to Jodry, the presence of more cameras might have given her family more answers. The circumstances surrounding her son’s death remain a mystery because there is little documentation of what happened, she said.
Hussey said San Luis Obispo is looking at the feasibility of adding security cameras at parking garages, but added that the city currently does not have the online storage capacity needed for more video footage.
He noted that the presence of cameras does not necessarily stop a crime from happening.
According to Hussey, the new garage slated to be built near Palm and Nipomo streets will have security cameras on each floor that will both help with safety and also calculate the structure’s occupancy rate.
The new structure will also have a higher barrier and more fencing in areas with larger windows.
In addition, Hussey said, the city is looking at adding more day staff and night security in parking structures. The city currently has one security guard to patrol all three parking garages, but hopes to have more by the end of July.
Jodry hopes that the efforts of her family and other community members can lead to increased safety inside the city’s parking structures.
“It’s not going to bring my son back. There’s a lot involved in our case,” Jodry said. “This is just one aspect that I really want taken care of.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2022 at 9:39 AM.
 "SLO_22221 (2)")
