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Oh No! Not Again!
Stop OPDs (Pay to Park)

The City of Los Angeles and some misguided Venetians are at it again. And why not. It will net L.A. at least One Million a year in fees alone, not to mention fines. More "money for nothing" that we have to turn over to the most corrupt city in the country.

What will it do for Venetians? It will put us in a straight jacket. No more free spirits dropping in on us. If someone gets a little tipsy or high at a park, they won't be able to crash on your couch, but will have to drive home in an inebriated state.

Here's an article from the Beachhead archives that shows how long we have been fighting "pay to park" schemes.

What’s behind the effort to bring permit parking to Venice? In a word, gentrification. In Los Angeles, and cities around the country, it’s a familiar story. A family of professionals spends big bucks to move into a lower income neighborhood. Before long the happy couple looks out the window and sees – gasp – strangers parking on their block. Who could these sinister people be – child molesters, foreigners, or perish the thought – homeless! Then, calls are made to the local representatives and signs go up denying parking to anyone not from here.

In Venice, this smooth process has run into snags for a couple of reasons. First, everything west of Lincoln Blvd. is in the coastal zone, which by law can be enjoyed by all Californians, regardless of where they live, or whether they have a hefty annual income or not. No law or city ordinance can restrict the right of inlanders to enjoy our fresh air and beach.

The second snag for the permit parking steamroller is a sizable community of free-spirited Venetians who do not want to pay to park or plan ahead when friends drop over. They – we – do not think the coast should be off-limits at any time of day or night to our overnight guests, surfers, swing-shift workers, or anyone else.

This is not the first time that efforts have been made to bring in permit parking. It happened in 2009 and 2010 and was soundly defeated at the Coastal Commission.

I recently ran across a copy of the Rialto Neighborhood News, the newsletter for the Rialto Block Association. The Sept/Oct 1982 issue had an article on preferential (permit) parking. The unnamed author says that this has been “an issue of long standing and its time for a decision to be made.” The reason given in favor of preferential parking sounds most contemporary. “The purpose…is to discourage significant intrusion of commercial and institutional parking into residential areas.” It goes on to say that parking restrictions could be any time, to daylight hours, or for nighttime restrictions.

The early 80s were the time of the first Yuppie migration to Venice, but apparently there were not enough supporters to push this through, since Rialto residents and their neighbors have been happily enjoying free street parking for the past 31 years since the article appeared.

But on June 2, 1994 the then L.A. City Councilmember, Ruth Galanter, informed us by letter that she was “pleased to announce that the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed my mostion to establish a preferential parking district in (our) neighborhood. It would have turned most of Venice into a permit parking zone.

The scheme this time was that non-residents (beachgoers) could park for two hours, then they would have to move their cars. It also prohibited overnight parking without a permit. This scheme would have resulted in constant churing of cars all day long.

By the time the plan reached the Coastal Commission several years later, the only Venetians to show up were against it. The Commission unanimously turned their thumbs down.

This time around we have a coalition of city officials including our rapidly shrinking councilmember Bill Rosendahl, homeless haters and gentrifiers. They believe that if they restrict parking in the dead of night they can slip it past the Coastal Commission.

If passed, the permits would bring in nearly $1 million to the city coffers (not the Venice coffers, alas). Big fines for not having a permit would be icing on the cake for L.A. officials.

On the face of it, denying street parking to visitors to the coastal zone at any time of day or night seems to violate the Coastal Access Act. If the Commission doesn’t toss it out, a court likely will.

Like nearly every plan that Los Angeles imposes on Venice, there are several myths underlying it.

Myth #1: It will be easier to park. According to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles, there are 21,422 vehicles in zipcode 90291, which includes most of Venice. No wonder we have a tough time parking! That part of Venice, south of Washington shares zipcode 90292 with Marina del Rey, but it’s a safe bet that there are thousands more cars in that part of Venice. Many of the remaining RVs, vans, camper trucks and inhabitable vehicles are owned by Venetians who live in a house. Those vehicles will be eligible for permits. Banning late night parking (for three hours) without a permit would not make it easier for the remaining 21,422 cars to find parking places during the day.

Myth #2: OPD was invented in large part to get rid of the RVs. Most of them are gone. A huge victory for the homeless haters and gentrifiers! But wait, OPDs have taken on a life of their own. Now all of us who want to park our cars on Venice streets must pay to park for the rest of our lives (or at least the rest of our lives in Venice). Some victory!

Myth #3: My property value will increase if we get rid of the undesirable element. Our property values have been inflated beyond reason for the last several years while the rest of the country endures a housing crisis. Yet, most of us live in funky, old houses and apartments that are much older than we are. At this point, increasing property values only serve to drive the poor and moderate income people out of Venice.

If we drive all the writers, poets, painters, sculptors and other creative people out of the community because they are not high wage earners, then what do we, as a community, have to offer? The Art Walk and the Garden Tour will have to shut down. Many of the artists in Venice are barely hanging on because of steadily increasing rents. Others have already been forced out of their homes and into their cars and vans. They are hanging on by their fingernails and their four tires. Let’s not make it even more difficult to be a part of Venice.

Let's stop already with the dumb parking restrictions and find ways to get more affordable housing, not less. Let's help people get along without using their cars every day. We need more bike lanes, shuttles, pedicabs, and sidewalks you can actually walk on without breaking your neck.

-Jim Smith

Postal Mail:
Beachhead, PO Box 2
Venice, CA 90294

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Yikes, take a look at unequal income distribution in the United States.

More on Venice Dreams

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George McGovern Died for Our Sins

Fear and Loathing on the 2012 Campaign Trail

LAPD Gestapo Tactics Must End

The Occupy Movement: When the Other Shoe Drops

How Can Venice Be Preserved?

Gaza, 90291

Rise Venice Rise

A Peek Into The Future: On the 200th Anniversary of the Founding of Venice – July 4, 2105

Sacred Places
(including our Post Office)

There are sacred places in the woods
first recognized by the Tongva people
and revered to this day.

And who would not stand in awe of a mountain spring
or a mighty rock thrusting towards heaven
amid the woodland silence, and the subtle sounds.

The sacred is where you find it.
Here in Venice, the hidden Redwoods,
Japanese gardens and impossible flowers.

And walking toward the center, the Circle,
there is a Temple on a rise of ground,
Inside is a space like the Greeks once knew.

In ancient times they looked up in awe at the mighty Apollo,
or the wise Athena, until their calm places 
were pulled down by Barbarians, blind to the sacred.

Inside our Post Office, the deified Abbot looks down
and watches us through the journeys of our lives
as we embrace the Sacred, or turn away.

And now we face the loss of our holy place
Where joy and sorry were carried in a letter
as the new Barbarians pull down our temple.

-Jim Smith