Today, the Department of Transportation unveiled new parking meters in Little Tokyo. These new meters feature LCD screens, accept both coins and credit cards, and will display the new parking hours. In most areas, parking times will be from 8am to 8pm (excluding Sunday). The maximum parking time will increase from 1 hour to 2 hours.These changes affect the following streets:
- 1st Street from Los Angeles St to Central Ave
- 2nd Street from Los Angeles St to Alameda St
- San Pedro St from 1st St to 3rd St
- Central Ave from 1st St to 3rd St
- Astronaut Ellison Onizuka Street South of 1st St
5 comments:
8-8? More money for this mismanaged city!
Oh, and these new card-'friendly' meters are so easy to read...
This is just another tax to use our streets that we already paid for. We should not just roll over at this new tax. Parking meters were to keep people from “hogging” a space and be able to turn a space several times during the day. Now they are a revenue source and an inconvenience and a deterrent to the businesses in the area. People will go to shop and do business where parking is less expensive and easier to accesses.
My recommendation is to carry a can of spray paint and paint and paint the display area to make the meters more attractive in the area where you want to park where teases obscene unreasonable new meters are in use. This way the meters would be more attractive and an expense to the city not a money source with the cost of additional maintenance and the inability to ticket parkers because the parker or enforcement people can not see if the meter is operating.
For all the complainers, there are plenty of other options. Little Tokyo is within walking distance of both the Red/Purple Line subway at 1st/Hill and newly opened Gold Line station at 1st/Alameda. There is also Downtown DASH Routes A and D which operates every 5-7 minutes. And when that ends at 6:30pm, there is Metro Lines 30, 31, 40, 42 with direct service to LT. All of these options are cheaper than 1 hour of parking.
There is also a private parking structure that can be entered on Central between 1st and 2nd which is $3 up front and you get a $3 refund with validation upon exiting. I'd bet that the parking structure at Weller Court is similar in rates.
I live in Little Tokyo, car-free, and have absolutely no problems getting around without a car. Accessibility should not revolve around whether you can park a car there for free. Little Tokyo is always congested on 1st and 2nd because cars are continually backing in and out of the parallel spots. My only wish was that the increased revenue would go back into the neighborhood in the form of streetscape improvements (increased lighting, cleaner sidewalks, etc) much like the way Old Town Pasadena implemented their rate increases.
It's not all about free parking; anyone who believes that should either read "The High Cost of Free Parking" by Don Shoup or live in irvine.
@ Alan Fishel: I agree,People will go to shop and do business where parking is less expensive and easier to accesses but with this new parking meter i doubt.
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