Pico Businesses Brace for Preferential Parking

By Teresa Rochester

After a six-month grace period, the city's blanket of preferential parking will spread over more streets in the Pico neighborhood starting June 1, pleasing residents and frustrating businesses.

The City Council held off implementing the new preferential parking zone, which will affect approximately 275 spaces on streets flanking Pico near the city's eastern boarder, to give nearby businesses time to search for parking alternatives.

With the clock ticking, merchants have scrambled to deal with their parking woes, hammering out deals to direct weekend traffic to paid parking lot spaces and street parking off of residential streets.

Jim Stebinger, chair of the Pico Improvement Association and a Trader Joe's employee, said that while businesses are grateful for the leeway, its been slow going diverting visitors onto the lot. He and other merchants say the preferential parking zone will probably hit neighborhood businesses hard.

"That's kind of an unknown factor," said Stebinger about the impact of the new zone. "We always operate on the assumption that it will have a major negative impact. Our point is that the [city] staff and City Council gave us a good head start but there's still a lot of effort ahead."

Five business on Pico Boulevard between 31st and 34th streets are splitting the cost of renting the US Bank parking lot on weekends to keep patrons off of residential streets. The businesses -- Trader Joe's, McCabe's, UnUrban Cafe, Sabor and Flint's -- each pay a portion of the costs to contract Standard Parking to run the $2.00-a-space lot.

Members of the Pico Improvement Association -- which will formally become a business improvement district on July 1 -- also are working out a deal with the Academy of Recording Arts to use its parking lots for employees of local businesses. In adition, Trader Joe's is also in the process of trying to find parking alternatives for its employees and for possible lease to other businesses.

Despite businesses' attempts to soothe parking-starved residents, Pam Stollings, owner of the UnUrban Café at the corner of Pico Boulevard and Urban Avenue, says the preferential parking zone will hamstring neighboring businesses.

"Our employees aren't going to have anywhere to park because of the two hour-thing," Stollings said. "We're already closing early."

To brace herself for the coming zone, Stollings began shutting down her six-year-old coffee house at 6 p.m. twice a week. Stollings said she losses 20 hours each week. While Stollings already directs her weekend customers to the US Bank lot, she predicts the new zone will cause "mass confusion the first few weeks."

In another effort to find parking alternatives Stollings crafted a book detailing the area's available parking and potential off-street parking sites.

To blunt the blow to employee parking, Lucy Dyke in the city's Planning Office said the city will offer monthly permits for employees to park at the meters along Urban Avenue for long periods of time. The permits would cost $38.50 a month and day-time employees can park at the meters during the day. The meters line the east side of Urban Avenue starting at the corner of Pico Boulevard.

"With the on-street metered permits you pay for the privilege of parking at the meters," said Dyke, adding that the city has several such areas along both Colorado Avenue and Broadway.

Dyke said the dearth of parking along Urban Avenue near the businesses has been a long-time concern. Many of the businesses, she pointed out, do not have on-site parking because they lost it when the Santa Monica Freeway was built.

Stollings said that despite the efforts of the businesses and the city to find alternatives for customers and employees, several businesses in and next to her building have moved out of Santa Monica.

"I'm getting really cynical," said Stollings. "It's, like, they [the city] don't want small businesses in Santa Monica to succeed."

To help bolster businesses along the Pico corridor, owners recently decided to form a business improvement district late last year. In January, the City Council approved the BID, making it the newest such district in 17 years.

On July 1, the Pico Improvement Association will join the ranks of the city's better known shopping areas, such as Main Street, the Third Street Promenade and Montana Avenue, in assessing local business and property owners and using the money to promote and market the shops on the street.

When Pico's BID becomes official, it will be run by the Chamber of Commerce, which manages all of the BID's in the city. The Chamber also will help bear the responsibility of running the parking lots on the eastern stretch of Pico Boulevard.