By Yesenia Rocha

Mar. 1, 2022

SAN JOSE, CALIF. — Westfield Valley Fair mall established a new parking fee which bagan Feb. 8, 2022 that has been said to “control traffic” and to “decrease the overnight parkers”, according to a statement, making shoppers and employees upset.

Westfield Valley Fair has started to charge shoppers and employees for being parked in the parking lots. According to NBC Bay Area, parking will be free for the first two hours, then $1 per additional hour. The maximum you can spend for parking is $10 per day. 

For workers, there is a parking pass that pays for the whole month. The cost of this pass is $40, which comes out of their paychecks. This is something that has upset workers. Shoppers and employees have signed many petitions to end this parking fee because it’s outrageous having to spend money while shopping but also having to pay for parking. 

Having to pay for parking can potentially make this mall lose money and customers. People aren’t going to want to spend an extra amount of money for something when they are already spending money on the items they purchase. 

Cristina Lopez, Silver Creek senior, commented, “It’s pretty unfair because other malls in the bay area aren’t expected to pay for parking. As a worker you should not have to pay to go to work. The community should work on allowing all workers to receive a monthly parking pass which sets them apart from customers or random people who use the parking lot.”

Maya Valencia, junior at Silver Creek mentions, “Valley fair shouldn’t have to pay to go to work. I think it’s unfair to them because customer’s usually don’t stay for longer than two hours, it’s the workers that are there for over two hours and that’s when it starts”

Many employees have tried to protest this new fee, such as signing petitions from a lot of the stores inside this mall. It has been brought up on Fox 2 News that a lot of workers barely make minimum wage, so it’s unfair how they should have to pay $40 every month for work.