> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Alan M. Gottlieb: Rising violent crime shows need for personal protection - URL: https://www.smdp.com/alleys-are-no-short-cut-gettin-by-making-passage-off-sm-main-roads-can-be-a-challenge/ - Published: 2006-12-28T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T23:28:59.000Z - Author: Kevin Herrera - Tags: local, Promenade, #archive-import *City Hall trying to find some solution for alley congestion* THIRD STREET ALLEY — It’s 10:45 a.m. and Lindsay Mullins is stuck in traffic. She’s not on any freeway or congested thoroughfare. She’s trapped behind a pair of delivery trucks here, just a few hundred feet from her final destination — Santa Monica Boulevard. “This is ridiculous,” the blonde with ambition said as she honked her horn ferociously. “I’ve been sitting here for like 10 minutes and I haven’t moved and inch.” Mullins is a victim of the downtown alley system. What was supposed to be a short cut around the Third Street Promenade has turned into “the detour from hell” as she sits impatiently in her silver Mercedes-Benz waiting for truck drivers to make like Moses parting the Red Sea and move their bulky vehicles out of her way. The tight alleys — about 20 feet in width — are almost always crowded during the day as delivery trucks, garbage men, promenade employees and shoppers use the highly-traveled arteries, occasionally clogging them like bad cholesterol. “It’s crazy busy sometimes,” said UPS driver Genaro Zonteras as he parked his truck just inches from the back of Abercrombie & Fitch so he could leave enough room for cars to squeeze by while he dropped of packages to a nearby business. “We really have no where else to go but the alleys,” Zonteras added. “People want deliveries made to their back doors, there’s not much parking on the street, so we just have to deal with it …This reminds me a lot of downtown L.A.” Some progress has been made by city officials to alleviate the congestion in the service alleys, however, there really is no oversight or traffic management plan except for a law prohibiting people from parking in an alley for any purpose other than loading or unloading. If a person does park to drop someone off or put a package in their trunk, they cannot park in such a manager that fire trucks or other emergency vehicles cannot pass through. City Hall has opened up taxi lanes in the morning for deliveries and has asked merchants to stagger their deliveries so that there isn’t gridlock. “But we would definitely like to be able to manage the vehicles better in the alleys,” said Kathleen Rawson, executive director of the Bayside District Corp. a public-private management company that helps City Hall run downtown. “It’s complex. There’s not just one issue at play, but multiple things. The problem is that the alleys are really service alleys and play a critical role in the operation of downtown businesses. You not only have UPS trucks, you have garbage trucks, Arrowhead delivery guys. They are just heavily used.” > “BUT WE WOULD DEFINITELY LIKE TO BE ABLE TO MANAGE THE VEHICLES BETTER IN THE ALLEYS.” — Kathleen Rawson Executive director BAYSIDE DISTRICT CORP Rawson said Bayside has been in discussion with City Hall to come up with a traffic management plan. Talks are still ongoing. City Hall is currently looking for trash haulers to take over the commercial side of the business, therefore eliminating the more than 40 different companies that currently collect garbage in downtown. This will eliminate traffic and help reduce pollution, said Craig Perkins, City Hall’s director of environmental and public works management. Shoppers are also forced to enter the adjacent parking structures from the street instead of the alleys to cut down on traffic, and garbage bins have been placed in recessed holding bins to keep them out of the alley. Those who frequently use the alleys have asked for City Hall to assign parking officers to monitor the deliveries and regulate traffic but their presence is lacking. “There’s never any cops back here,” said “It’s pretty much up to the drivers to keep the peace.” Fights have broken out between drivers because of frustration, Beacom said. “You really have to try and think about other people when you come down here,” he said. “You have to be aware of how your parked and you have to make your deliveries quickly because you don’t want to be blocking traffic for too long.” Lucy Dyke, the transportation planning manager for City Hall, said keeping traffic moving through the alley must depend largely on the common sense and courtesy of those who use them. City staff is currently review how the alleys are used as they look to update the land-use and circulation element of the city’s general plan. Making alleys more pedestrian friendly is also being discussed, Dyke said. “You could impose stricter fines for motorists who park there, but those who would be paying the fines would be those who use downtown the most and ensure that it is a vibrant place to be,” Dyke said. “You have to really find a balance on how many fines you want to issue and how much people can put up with them. We are trying to find that balance.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 28, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/122806.pdf?ref=smdp.com)