Parking

Can a community plan claim to be progressive without a strong affordable housing component?

It's almost like the City Council Planning and Land Use Committee (PLUM) was celebrating Park(ing) Day a little early.

(Last week we had a chance to talk with UCLA Professor and renowned Parking Rock Star Donald Shoup about Los Angeles' ExpressPark system coming to the Downtown soon.  The transcript was edited slightly by both of us for clarity. For more information about ExpressPark and the city's plans, visit Blog Downtown. - DN)

This Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council Transportation Committee will consider an ordinance that would create a permitting system that would allow people to park in front of the driveways of the dwelling they lease or own.  The California Vehicle Code (CVC) allows municipalities to create such a program, but none of the other major cities in California have yet to try such a program.

In 2009, the City of Los Angeles began making life a little harder for parking scofflaws by raising the fees for various offenses for the first time in years.  In 2010, the City again "adjusted" the fees upward and a new report from the City Attorney shows that the city is considering another increase in what is becoming an annual tradition.  The City Council Transportation Committee will vote on whether to approve even higher parking ticket fees on Wednesday before the full Council considers them later this month.

It is doubtful that the media will give the same attention to today's report, "Audit of the City’s Parking Meter Collection Process" by City Comptroller Wendy Greuel as it did the "Gold Card" report a couple of weeks ago or the "Parking Cops Taking Part in a Porn Video" report on NBC from earlier this year, but the most recent report might be the most damning.  The city really doesn't know how many parking meters it has?  Among the findings:

Last Thursday, Los Angeles Comptroller Wendy Greuel released the findings of an audit of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation's parking program to address shortcomings in revenue collection.  Greuel's report identified a couple of areas that needed addressing to maximize revenue, but the item that caught the media's attention was the so-called "Gold Card Desk" (GCD) where City Council Members could "fix" parking tickets brought to their attention by constituents with a simple phone call.

Like a once-vanquished zombie rising from its grave in a poorly conceived sequel, the city is reportedly considering  a series of plans that would hand over control and profit for nine city-owned parking garages to a private entity.  Last January, the City Council rejected a proposal by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to begin soliciting bids for the city's lots, but apparently that didn't stop some organizations from soliciting bids anyways.  City Watch reports that City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana has received several "unsolicited" offers to manage or lease the 8,200 parking spaces located in nine garages.  Jack Humperville reports:

Earlier today, A.B. 710, the Infill Development and Sustainable Community Act of 2011, sailed through a hearing of the California State Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development. If adopted, A.B. 710 would drop minimum parking requirements for infill development in "transit intensive areas" down to one car per residential unit or per 1,000 square feet of retail space.  Infill development is any new project that is built on a currently unoccupied space.