Pico Merchants to Petition for Employee Parking Permits

By Gene Williams
Staff Writer

March 3 -- Street parking just might get a little easier for Pico business employees who have been shut out by preferential permit parking and two-hour street meters -- at least for a few of them, anyway.

The news came Wednesday night at a meeting of Friends of Sunset Park, when a Pico business official announced plans to ask the City for five employee parking permits on streets where only residents can now park for more than two hours.

Although the idea has been supported for years by City staff and was approved by the City Council last Fall, the pilot program would be a first in an area where currently only residents receive preferential parking.

"We wanted to approach the community groups first before we went to the City, to get their feedback and comments," said Susan McDonough, who represents the Pico Improvement Organization (PIO), after the meeting.

If McDonough is successful, she hopes to replicate the program a few spaces at a time, stressing that the PIO seeks only a limited number of daytime permits in areas that won't adversely affect residents.

The proposal received little, if any, opposition from the Sunset Park residents, whose main concern was that the five permits not be issued on streets that are already over parked.

In particular, the neighborhood group identified 30th and 31st streets between Ocean Park Boulevard and Pearl Street as an area where the plan would not work.

Sunset Park residents had weighed in on preferential parking in an unscientific survey conducted by the neighborhood group, which acknowledges the survey of 120 residents does not necessarily reflect the views of the community.

Asked if they would allow employees and customers from nearby businesses to park on their streets on a limited basis, 69 of the respondents said “no,” while 51 said “yes.”

For years, business parking on Pico has been a continuing problem, forcing businesses to either move or not grow, City officials have said.

The idea of employee day-use permits first came up nearly a decade ago, but it did not become a concrete proposal until 2001, when the City Council shot down a recommendation to allow limited employee parking in a newly created preferential parking zone in the Northeast section of the City.

Two years later, following council direction, the City’s Transportation Division issued a report that included recommendations for employee day-use permits in a number of areas, according to City parking officials. The council, however, asked staff to go back and study the issue again on a "case by case" basis.

Last November, the council came under attack when it approved recommendations by the East West Commercial Corridor Parking Task Force -- a council appointed committee -- that included recommendations for limited employee parking on some residential streets.

The move sparked angry letters and pamphlets, turning preferential parking for workers into a hot-button election issue.

City officials expect the matter to come before council again, but say they don't know when that will be.

Related story: "Commercial Parking Stuck in Neutral," February 22