More Parking Zones in Place Following Council Decisions

By Teresa Rochester

The City Council continued to blanket streets with preferential parking zones Tuesday night, but not before they quibbled, argued and debated everything from the privatization of public streets to interpretations of the Municipal Code.

In separate votes the council approved two sizable zones spanning parts of the Wilshire/ Montana and Mid-City neighborhoods, effectively wiping out and replacing several existing zones and loosening or tightening parking restrictions on various streets.

Nearing the end of their second trip through the alphabet, the council voted 4 to 2 (Councilman Herb Katz was absent) to approve Zone TT, which extends from 20th Street through 25th Street between Wilshire Boulevard and Washington Ave. and includes California and Washington avenues between 20th and 26th Streets.

The council followed that decision with a 4 to 1 vote approving the creation of Zone YY in the Mid-City neighborhood. (Councilman Robert Holbrook recused himself from the YY deliberations because he owns property on Princeton Street.)

The zone will encompass the following streets:

• From 26th Street to Princeton Street between Santa Monica Boulevard and Washington Avenue
• Harvard and Yale streets between Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards
• Arizona Avenue between 26th and Yale streets
• Washington Avenue between 26th and Stanford streets

The sore points among the council members centered on staff suggestions that limited daytime permits be sold to business employees in those neighborhoods and that universal two-hour parking be allowed on all streets in both zones.

Residents and some council members denounced the plan to allow employees to qualify for permits, saying that they already snap up precious parking spaces and that ultimately it is the businesses' responsibility to provide parking. But others countered that businesses also need relief from the parking crunch.

The City is considering testing employee permits in several preferential parking areas.

"We're not experimenting anymore," Councilman Ken Genser said about the employee permits. "It's policy. I'm really concerned that we're beginning to roll this out and we haven't had a public conversation about it."

At the beginning of the four-hour hearing Genser debated with members of the City's planning department staff. He argued that the section in the Municipal Code dealing with preferential parking says nothing about permits for employees.

His argument raised the ire of fellow council member Pam O'Connor, who denounced the idea, echoed by residents, that employees have no right to park on neighborhood streets.

"Employees are people too," Councilwoman Pam O'Connor said. "I get concerned about this demonizing of people who work in the City."

Business people and residents also butted heads over the issue.

"I work ten hours a day on Wilshire," said Valerie Latham, "I want to get to my car at 9:00 at night and be safe. I wanted to make sure that you answer that. There is a need for businesses."

Many residents worried about the future impact of a planned Whole Foods Market on the former site of Madame Wu's restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard and 20th Street.

"I'm very concerned about the employees of Whole Foods Market," said Janet Kaplan, who lives on 23rd Street. "It's not the City's responsibility to provide parking for the businesses. They want a free cheap way to have parking."

While council members voted not to include employee permits in either zone, they unanimously voted to have City staff explore a policy for employee permit parking.

Two-hour parking, another contentious topic, was approved for all of the streets in Zone TT between 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., which encompassed an existing council approved zone that forbade parking without a permit on certain streets, a condition that divided council members.

Opponents of overturning the permit-only rule argued that it would set a dangerous precedent and would be a disservice to neighborhood residents who live on 23rd Street near Wilshire Boulevard.

"If we want to modify it [Zone SS], we are effectively taking away their preferential parking because we all know there isn't any enforcement," said Genser, who along with Councilman Richard Bloom voted against Zone TT. "So if you're going to this you're taking away the preferential parking of this neighborhood after we gave it to them."

But most of the council members balked at the idea of permit-only streets. O'Connor said she would not support a measure that privatizes a public resource.

Mayor Michael Feinstein said that he was uncomfortable with his previous vote for Zone SS. He noted that after visiting 23rd Street near Wislshire Boulevard many times during peak hours, he felt the permit only parking was unwarranted on the often empty street.

"I've been there so many times during lunch time I can't discount my observations," Feinstein said.

In Zone YY, 26th, Yale, Princeton and Harvard streets between Arizona and Santa Monica Boulevard and Arizona between 26th and Yale streets, will only be open to permit holders. The other areas in the zone allow two-hour parking between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Council members said the tougher restrictions were needed due to the heavy use of the streets by residents and auto repair shops. O'Connor cast the lone dissenting vote to create Zone YY, saying that she opposed the permit only parking on Princeton Street.

"This is a place where the auto repair businesses have taken over the street," Genser said, referring to a block on Princeton Street where City staff said more than every available space was being used. "A two hour limit is not going to work on this street."

Residents, including Planning Commission Chair Kelly Olsen, who lives on Princeton near Santa Monica Boulevard, pleaded with the council to block the two-hour parking plan.

"My wife has to park up the block," said Princeton resident John Sheehan. "My kids have to park up the block. If you put in two hour parking it's not going to work."

"Many people in the community feel that they're on the bottom of the totem pole in policy decisions that come out of this building," said Olsen, a close ally of Genser. "This staff repeatedly doesn't take into account the residents.

"We don't want two-hour parking," said Olsen, who helped rally the residents. "Speaking as Planning Commissioner, this community has bent over backwards in a positive way to accommodate businesses by grandfathering the parking. What we didn't take into account is the new businesses are more popular than the original businesses."

On Tuesday night the council also voted to speed up plans to install a crosswalk and pedestrian safety lights at the intersection of Washington Avenue and 26th Street. The decision bumps the project from phase three of the City's Crosswalk Enhancement Program to phase two.

Several residents complained that the street, frequented by mothers with small children on their way to Douglas Park or Franklin Elementary, is far too dangerous to cross. Residents said they often have to walk two blocks out of their way to cross at a safer intersection.

"I don't want this signal to be purchased with the life of a child," said Alissa Stewart, a civil traffic engineer who lives in the neighborhood.