San Jose State students and Westfield Valley Fair mall employees continue to voice concern and discontentment with the mall’s parking fees that went into effect Feb. 8 2022.
Customers who park at Valley Fair will not be charged for the first two hours, with the maximum daily rate staying at $10. Employees who work on site are required to pay a discounted rate of three dollars a day, or $40 a month through passes from the parking office.
The controlled parking plan formulated by mall officials went into effect to deter commuters who work off-site from parking in the parking structures.
The mall stated, “The controlled parking plan is part of a broader focus on security at Valley Fair. It is also designed to limit the parking inconveniences experienced by customers as a result of the substantial number of vehicles left on site each day by individuals heading to work elsewhere in the Silicon Valley community or embarking upon travel plans to nearby San Jose International Airport. We are aware of concerns by some employees who work at the center. By creating a more controlled parking environment, the hope is that the already popular center brings even more customers to support retailers allowing them to flourish.”
Sociology freshman Sergio Gomez was one of the few students who stood outside during his lunch break at the Cheesecake Factory to protest the parking fees.
Gomez planned to attend a protest that day that was canceled because of scheduling conflicts among employees. The protest was the second planned demonstration against the new parking fees, organized by the valleyfairworkerpetition Instagram page.
The petition has over 1000 signatures and the issue has been covered on multiple media outlets.
Gomez said the new fee made him reconsider his spending habits because he’s a full-time student paying for tuition, monthly rent for off-campus housing and commuting expenses.
“Whatever I want to do on the weekends, now I have to double-think, ‘is that really something I should be doing?’ because of the amount of money that I’m barely making right now,” he said.
Several workers walked around the mall to educate customers regarding the issue.
Protesters argued that the majority of Valley Fair visitors are affluent South Bay residents who are “unmoved” about paying a dollar-per-hour after the limit’s expiration.
An SJSU accounting junior who chose to remain anonymous in order to avoid repercussions from the store management, works at athletic retail store Lululemon and said they don’t pay for a monthly parking pass, instead they pay three dollars a day to park in the garage.
According to Valley Fair’s website, the monthly parking pass is part of their controlled parking plan where employers may choose to purchase passes for their employees, but are not required. The rate for the pass is $40 a month and if not purchased by the employer, individual employees are required to pay.
Many stores in the mall are not covering the parking fee for their employees, the source said.
SJSU 2019 alumna Ingried Tran said she believes it’s wrong for employees to be required to pay the mall for a temporary parking space.
“I don’t think there should be an additional fee placed upon employees to work, that seems like wage theft to me,” she said. “. . . it just doesn’t seem fair.”
Tran said she usually visits the mall three times a month, but doesn’t plan on visiting as frequently because of the fee.
“[Visiting the mall] used to be an activity I would do because it wouldn’t cost money, but now that there’s a monetary amount I have to pay to be here, I’m less incentivized to come,” Tran said. “Otherwise I could find other places to go just to be outside that are free.”
