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# Paying up on Sunday mornings Meters will begin taking coins earlier along SM’s Main Street
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/paying-up-on-sunday-mornings-meters-will-begin-taking-coins-earlier-along-sms-main-street/
- Published: 2007-10-19T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T03:30:26.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Business, Main St, #archive-import

*Getting ready to feed meters*

MAIN STREET Sunday drivers will have to start feeding the meters here earlier than they used to come January, thanks to a move by City Hall that is intended to free up more spaces along the bustling corridor.

The plan is to begin enforcement hours for the 303 parking meters along Main Street at 9 a.m. on Sundays. At present, drivers can park for free until 1 p.m., a provision introduced years ago as a convenience to worshipers who attend four churches in the area, city staff said.

Through the years, free parking has resulted in low turnover, creating intense congestion as people jostle for parking spots to attend the popular Main Street Farmers’ Market, go shopping or have brunch. The lack of available spaces also pushes drivers onto residential streets in search of free, but scarce, parking.

Both residents and businesses in the area have expressed their concerns that the unnecessary circling on Sunday mornings poses a threat to public safety, promotes the wasteful use of gasoline and pollutes the air with vehicle emissions.

A 2005 survey found that 54 percent of the 5,000 people who attend the Farmers’ Market each week drive there.

“You see people doing crazy things, jockeying for parking spaces, circulating ad nauseam,” said Ted Winterer, president of the Ocean Park Association, an influential neighborhood group that lobbied for the change in parking, along with the Main Street Merchants Association.

“I go every Sunday at 8:30 (a.m.) to play soccer in a league and it usually takes me 15 to 20 minutes to find a parking spot anywhere within four blocks of my home,”Winterer added.“I have neighbors who have to plan their days around it. We hope that this (change) will get rid of this needless pollution and burning of fossil fuels.”

The new Main Street meter requirement is part of a larger effort to mitigate parking congestion on the street in and around the Farmers’ Market, which is held at Heritage Square each Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Other measures taken under the pilot parking program include validated parking at the beach parking lot at 2600 Barnard Way; complimentary parking at John Muir Elementary School and Santa Monica Alternative School House; and a bicycle valet.

Those who park in the beach lot are reimbursed if they attend the market and get a validation. They must leave the lot by 1:30 p.m., when the market ends, a measure taken to discourage validated patrons from occupying the beach parking spaces all day. The largest number of drivers requesting validations on any Sunday was 64, according to city staff. The school parking has been made available by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District at no cost with no validation required, however, usage of the lot has been low. City staff will continue to advertise it as an alternative.

Perhaps the most successful component of the pilot parking program has been the bike valet. Those who ride in can have their bikes parked in a secure location that is monitored by an attendant. The program began on July 16, 2006 and, on average, is used by 200 cyclists each Sunday.

City staff believes that if motorists are required to pay for metered parking, then more shoppers would be encouraged to use the validated beach parking or the free parking at John Muir/SMASH, creating more turnover on Main Street.

Church members are said to be in favor of the change to the meters because it would help their parishioners find parking. Calls to the Church in Ocean Park were not returned.

Naturally, there are those who do not like the idea of having to pay for parking earlier on Sundays. Those people believe that parking should be free on that day, as it is in other parts of the city.

“The merchants are going to lose business,” said Jim Jones, who was having a drink with a friend on Thursday at Rick’s Tavern, a popular bar/restaurant on Main. “Why should the residents have to pay more to park here when it’s the businesses that are taking up a lot of the parking too.”

Jones said more people are going to get tickets and that could make them not want to come back.

Gary Gordon, president of the Main Street Merchants Association, said the change will be good for businesses because it will make it easier for customers to park, making their Main Street experience more enjoyable.

That said, he knows there is no guarantee. “You hope it creates turnover,” Gordon said. “But nothing can stop someone from coming back and feeding the meter.”

Gordon is working to get an employee parking program to free up more spaces, but hasn’t had much luck. He said that, on any given day, there are 75 employees parking at meters or on residential streets.

If all 303 meters are adjusted so that enforcement begins at 9 a.m., city staff estimates an increase in revenue of $34,450 — that’s assuming that there is 75 percent usage throughout the year with drivers paying 75 cents per hour.

The Transportation Management Division is in the process of creating signs that will notify motorists in the area that the hours for parking meters on Sundays will change with the new year.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 19, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/101907.pdf?ref=smdp.com)