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# Residents enjoy being in the zone
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/residents-enjoy-being-in-the-zone/
- Published: 2005-05-19T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:10:42.000Z
- Author: Ryan Hyatt
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Residents happy with preferential treatment*

CITY HALL — The city’s parking crunch has found some relief once again with the approval of more preferential parking.

The Santa Monica City Council voted on Tuesday, at the insistence of residents, to create a preferential parking zone for six blocks on the eastern city border. Preferential Parking Zone “S” will limit parking through permits on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Berkeley and Franklin streets between Colorado and Pennsylvania avenues. Pennsylvania Avenue between Stanford Court and Centinela Avenue and the north side of Nebraska Avenue between Berkeley Court and Centinela also will be part of the new parking zone.

Those councilmembers in attendance Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of creating the new zone.

“Sometimes I have to park two blocks away from home and carry 3011 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica (310) 264-8385 my groceries,” said Robert Chavez, a resident of the 1600 block of Berkeley Street. “We pay taxes to live in these houses and apartments and we should let the people who do so get preferential parking themselves.”

A city staff report indicates that the majority of the neighborhood voted for the new parking zone, which is surrounded by a light manufacturing and studio district to the north and east, and Preferential Parking Zone “VV” to the south.

The five residents who spoke to the City Council at Tuesday’s meeting shared concerns that parking in their neighborhood was limited due to employees who work in the area and park in their neighborhood.

“Businesses adjacent are clearly blocking our parking,” said John Gonzalez, a resident of Berkeley Street. “They need to maximize their rooftop parking.”

Others complained that those attending services at the Santa Monica Baha’i Center, at 3102 Colorado Ave., also tended to park in the streets and not the religious center’s parking lot.

To qualify for the preferential parking, neighborhood residents within the new parking zone submitted petitions starting in June 2003\. The last petition was received in March.

Mayor Pam O’Connor supported the new parking zone.

“I’m not a big fan of preferential parking,” she said. “But this will at least put the parking burden on the businesses, not the residents.”

There are more than 50 preferential parking zones in Santa Monica.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 19, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/051905.pdf?ref=smdp.com)