Every weekend evening, thousands of people come to West Hollywood to enjoy the clubs, shops, restaurants, and coffee houses on the Sunset Strip, Santa Monica Blvd., Melrose Ave., and in the rest of the city. Many just come to stroll the boulevards and people-watch.
This creates an extreme shortage of parking in West Hollywood and vicinity, and it seems to be getting worse! In addition to the loss of 60 parking spaces on Hancock Ave. due to construction of a large, multi-use project, the City of West Hollywood has just recently changed the parking meters on some parts of Santa Monica Blvd. near the Hancock construction site so that they run until 10PM, instead of 6PM, and some are now limited to 20 minutes instead of 1 or 2 hours.
Conspiracy theorists that I know are screaming that this is a scam to increase parking ticket revenue, or perhaps to make it even harder for patrons to attend the Gay clubs on Santa Monica Boulevard. I decided to find out what was going on, and called the city, who referred me to the Parking Manager for West Hollywood, Oscar Delgado.
I must admit that I do not like to talk with city employees as a rule, because I have had more than several negative run-ins with that particular species of human, but I gritted my teeth and called him. He was out, I left a message, and then went off to do errands, not expecting a return call that day, if at all. An hour later, he returned my call. So far so good. So I started asking questions.
Q: Why the changes in the parking meters?
A: Because of the construction on the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and Hancock, the local businesses on Santa Monica Blvd. were feeling the impact of the lack of parking, so the city changed 20 of the meters on the North side of Santa Monica and 10 on the South side to improve customer flow. The changes include limiting the time on some of the meters to as little as 20 minutes, to give faster turnover so other customers can find parking, and extended hours until 10PM for the same reason. The change is a temporary one until the new construction is completed on that corner in December, which will then provide 150 parking spots at night. That will be 90 more spaces than the 60 spaces that were there before.
Because he was so forthcoming, I got bold.
Q: Do you know how many street parking spaces are available in West Hollywood?
A: There are 2100 meters.
Q: So besides the 2100 metered spaces available, according to the West Hollywood website, the eight city lots that are open in the evening can only accommodate 616 cars total. What are the city’s plans to increase parking in the Western side of the city off of Santa Monica Blvd. where the big clubs are, besides the Hancock project?
A: Besides Hancock, the city has turned 2 lots on Robertson into valet parking, which increases the amount of cars that they can hold. The City is also looking at creating an additional 330 spaces where the tennis courts are in the West Hollywood Park. Besides this, the PDC will be starting construction on the “Red Building” this year, which will provide an additional 400 spaces after 6 PM, directly off of San Vicente, when it is complete. Because West Hollywood is a small city with a limited budget, the city must constantly look for creative ways to partner with business. An example would be to land bank properties and then sell the land to investors with the stipulation that they provide surplus parking and other benefits to the local citizens.
All of this was not what I expected, but is great news, both for business and residents. I guess that sometimes, all you have to do is ask. It helps if you are talking with Oscar. I was truly impressed with his candor and grasp of the situation. Nice to find a city employee with a love of his job, intelligence, and a sense of humor. Go Oscar!
