La Jolla Meters

[Holy Mackerel]

Anyone go to this meeting?

Link


December 20, 2007

LA JOLLA – A drive for parking meters in La Jolla has temporarily hit the brakes.

The La Jolla Community Parking District Advisory Board, which was scheduled to vote yesterday on a disputed pay-parking plan, instead found itself stuck in a legal bog for at least a month or two.
At issue are financial-disclosure requirements for quasi-governmental boards such as La Jolla's.
The San Diego City Attorney's Office notified the parking board last week that state political conflict-of-interest laws require its nine members to either file detailed financial statements under a broad rule or adopt a more specific disclosure ordinance that will need City Council approval.
Until then, any action by the board – such as adopting or even discussing a parking plan – would be null, advised Chief Deputy City Attorney Michael Calabrese.
The board intends to devote its next meeting on Jan. 16 to working with Calabrese on drafting its own ordinance. Calabrese said it would probably take three to four more weeks to get it before the City Council.
The 70 or so residents at yesterday's meeting were told they could voice opinions as public comment, but the panel could not respond. About 10 people spoke, all opposed to pay stations in La Jolla's central retail zone, known as the village.
After the hour-long meeting, board member Darcy Ashley said public disclosure of each member's financial interests might ease some of the community rancor over the parking plan. “We have an ability to restore some public confidence,” she said.

[dgax65]

Chris
I didn't make it to this meeting, but I did go to the one the month before. The affected area for the pilot program was just around the La Jolla Village; not the Shores. The only impact for kayak fishermen and divers would be for those who put in between Bird Rock and the Ellen Browning Scripps Park. The Pilot Program was going to put parking pay stations, not traditional meters, on all on-street parking in that area.

There was significant resistance from the local residents and business owners. It was apparent that they wanted to use some sort of procedural tactics to stop or delay implementation of the pilot program. The residents and business owners were very upset that the pilot program plan was adopted without much local input. The alternative plan that the locals were pushing was increased enforcement. There was a lot of interest in the Smart Park that is used in the City of Monterey. This system uses video license plate recognition and GPS to significantly increase the speed at which a parking enforcement officer can check a street for violators. The effect on parking turnover is similar to that from the use parking meters.

The debate over use of meters vice increased enforcement primarily revolves around money. A percentage of the money from the meters would go to the La Jolla Community Parking District to cover the cost of the new parking system and other projects. Money from parking violations goes directly to the City of San Diego. There was some sort of verbal agreement from the city that some of the funds would come back to La Jolla. Given the state of City finances, there was much scepticism that the enforcement money would ever make it back to La Jolla.

The Pilot Program was reduced in scope and does not immediately affect the Shores. Supposedly, the pilot program is only of limited duration and a tool to determine if pay parking would be viable. Unfortunately, the only metrics to empirically measure effectiveness will be revenue collected. It will be very hard to quantify the impact to La Jolla residents and the people who use La Jolla for ocean/beach access. At the end of the pilot program, I'm sure that they will have all sorts of statistics showing revenue generated and parking turnover. There will be no statistical evidence of the impact on La Jolla beach users. It is a fait accompli; just as with the MLPA process. They have pilot programs and public impact statements to keep the process legal, but the die is cast from the moment the process begins. This will generate revenue and that is the driving factor. I don't think the outcome is in doubt; there will be pay parking in La Jolla Shores someday. What we need to do is make sure that whatever system is put in place allows some sort of long term parking solution for kayakers, divers and other such beach users.

[Holy Mackerel]

Thanks for the update Doug!