City officials consider making changes to parking structures
DOWNTOWN, SM Local workers and shoppers that currently take advantage of the three hours of free parking at two city-owned parking garages might soon have to pull out their wallets.
City officials are proposing to change the way parking garages No. 7 and 8 — which abut the temporarily defunct Santa Monica Place — are operated, shifting from the current method in which cars freely flow through to one where they would be stopped by parking attendants.
The change would bring the garages in line with the rest of the city-owned structures in Downtown, creating consistency in pricing and avoid confusion for the different parking policies, according to city officials. The operational transformation, coupled with facade improvements, is expected to be completed to coincide with the reopening of the mall, which is currently undergoing renovation, in fall 2009.
“It will allow us to better manage parking throughout the downtown, including managing peak parking demands,”
Housing and Economic Development Director Andy Agle said.
Parking is currently free at garages no. 7 and 8 for three hours, after which time a $47 citation can be issued. The garages along Second and Fourth are free for the first two hours with a $1 fee each half hour tacked on thereafter.All of the city-owned garages, with the exception of the mall and one north of Wilshire Boulevard on Third Street, is manned by parking attendants. City Hall is currently in the process of installing prepaid parking machines in those garages to better manage the flow of traffic out of the structures.
Adding parking attendants would also enable the structures to have an electronic sign notifying the number of parking spaces available, a feature that is affixed to the other downtown garages.
In addition to converting the garages to attendant parking, the estimated $4.5 million project also involves enhancing the facade of the two structures, adding solar panels, colored-channel glass enclosed stair-wells, public art. The firm of Pugh + Scarpa is designing the transformation.
The project will also include the incorporation of pedestrian and bike-friendly elements, adding a bicycle pathway into the garage and ground-floor retail spaces, large enough to accommodate a floral or newsstand.
The renovated garages could also include valet parking, something that Macerich, which is partnering with City Hall, is seeking for the project, Agle said.
The installation of parking booths, restriping, and possible additions of retail spaces and a bike pathway could lead to a loss of several parking spaces. The parking control changes alone could result in a net loss of 41 spaces.
The structures, owned by the Redevelopment Agency, were built in 1979 and have a combined total of nearly 2,000 spaces. The six other city-owned garages in the Downtown Area, one a piece located on the 1200, 1300 and 1400 blocks of Second and Fourth streets, were converted to attendant parking about 15 years ago.
A $3 flat fee is assessed after 6 p.m. in garages No. 7 and 8 on Thursday through Sunday and the revenue generated is split in half between City Hall and Macerich.
The design concepts were presented to the City Council on Tuesday, which directed its staff to proceed with the plans but to consider adding some landscaping next to the structure on Colorado where there is no retail space slated.
The news that parking attendants would be added was met with mixed reaction by frequent users of the two garages.
Brittany Clifton, who lives in Downtown Los Angeles, said the parking fee, which would have a $7 maximum daily rate, would still be less expensive than on-street parking, which could run the risk of a parking citation.
“I have to pay everywhere anywhere, so it’s not going to make a difference for me,”Clifton said on Wednesday.“I’ll be back anyhow.”
Los Angeles resident Jim Smith said he would actually reconsider coming to the Third Street Promenade, especially with the ongoing construction in the area, opting instead for Westside Pavilion or the Beverly Center where he knows what to expect with the parking situation.
“There is already limited parking here in the city and even if it’s three hours free, sometimes it’s hard to find spaces,” Smith said on Wednesday.“You would have to limit yourself and I just feel this would only drive people away — they would go to other malls.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 15, 2008. Read the original PDF.