Scott Peters, San Diego City Council president and District 1 councilman, announced in an exclusive interview with the Village News last Friday that he plans to “flush” La Jolla’s controversial parking board process, which began in 2005 and was intended to find solutions for parking problems in the Village.
One proposed plan ” to install meters for paid on-street parking ” has created a rift between members of the La Jolla Community Parking District Advisory Board, most of whom support paid parking, and the many residents and merchants who are opposed.
“There just doesn’t seem to be much enthusiasm for paid parking right now,” Peters said.
Those were the words opposition groups had longed to hear.
“We need to call for an immediate dissolving of the parking board as soon as possible to allow for no wiggle room,” said Darcy Ashley of Nopaidparking.org, who is also an alternate on the parking board.
According to a recent survey conducted by area residents, most of La Jolla’s merchants are against paid parking, a view most parking board members don’t share; conflict on the issue escalated when groups against paid parking called for the board members to disclose their financial interests, forcing the process to stall.
“I don’t think the financial disclosure issue has much to do with it,” said Martin Mosier, acting chair of the La Jolla Community Parking Advisory Board, regarding Peters’ decision to step back from paid parking. Mosier took the place of former parking board chair Peter Wagener after Wagener stepped down due to a conflict of interest.
“No current board members own parking garages within the parking district,” Mosier said.
Peters said he is wary of the community’s ability to come to an understanding with the parking board.
“I am skeptical that we can fix it,” Peters said during Friday’s interview.
He told the Village News he was thinking of “flushing the process” in La Jolla, an action that would not affect San Diego’s other community parking boards. Peters said the separation between the board and the community is too wide to repair.
“I think we have to take a step back from it,” he said. “It’s not working.”
Because the community and the parking board can’t move forward, Peters said he will recommend suspending La Jolla’s paid parking process by asking the mayor for alternatives, such as seeking revenue from parking enforcement.
According to Mosier, La Jolla’s parking board was planning to ask the city council to share enforcement revenue as part of the overall parking plan ” a power board members believe the council may already have.
“I’m saying that the existing council policy 100-18 allows for certain parking management … it has not been interpreted yet as enforcement revenue,” Mosier said. “We were going to suggest that the city share enforcement revenue as part of the overall parking plan we were considering … we were going to ask for a percentage of that revenue.”
When Peters helped form the La Jolla Community Parking Advisory Board in 2005, he said his feelings about paid on-street parking were neutral, and he had a number of questions he thought the community could agree on.
“My goal was not to come up with any specific solution,” he said. “[Now] the process has come to a screeching halt.”
The board has been in limbo since the citizens group La Jollans for Clean Government sent a request to the city attorney’s office asking that La Jolla parking board members file financial disclosure forms in compliance with the Fair Political Practices Commission. Peters disagrees the forms are necessary because he said the group is strictly advisory in nature.
Currently, La Jolla’s parking board can’t operate until members disclose financial interests because the city attorney determined their role had become more than advisory, according to San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre. Weeks ago, the city council asked Aguirre’s office to give the parking board a reprieve from filing disclosure statements.
Aguirre said it’s his duty as the city attorney to decide the financial disclosure issue; the form is an internal control the board is legally required to fill out. After examining the parking board’s relationship with the San Diego City Council, Aguirre said, “under the Brown Act,” which requires public groups to remain transparent, his office concluded the link was “more ceremonial,” meaning the council has a history of approving what the board puts before it.
Because of Aguirre’s conclusion, the city attorney’s office continued to pursue the financial disclosure issue.
“I think the city attorney offering his various opinions makes it difficult for the parking board to meet and discuss parking issues,” Mosier said.
Meanwhile, Steve Haskins, attorney for La Jollans for Clean Government, said his group will likely refrain from additional court proceedings because the group’s goal was to seek legal compliance while the parking board was moving forward.
“La Jollans for Clean Government is happy that city officials are coming to their senses,” Haskins said. “It’s clear many of the things done by the parking board were illegal, and by starting over they have a chance to do things right this time.”
Although the community may seem fractured by paid on-street parking “” the issue affected other La Jolla groups “” the thought of a resolution had some locals issuing immediate pardons.
“It is terrific news that Scott Peters is supporting people who want to preserve what is good about La Jolla,” Ashley said. “Caring people spoke from the heart and took action to keep our streets free for everyone.”
Merchants passionately opposed to paid parking took their issue to other La Jolla boards.
Business owners Nancy Warwick and Bob Collins filed suit against Promote La Jolla, La Jolla’s Business Improvement District, saying the group wouldn’t seat them because of the parking issue.
“I’m completely thrilled and my hope is that the board will be dissolved as a consequence of these actions,” said Warwick, owner of Warwick’s book and stationery store. “It would have been a travesty if meters would have been implemented in La Jolla.”
Although Peters said citizens misinterpreted his position on paid parking in La Jolla, Aguirre, who attended the LJCPA meeting, said locals are against the issue entirely.
“There’s no one that wants [paid parking] in La Jolla,” Aguirre said. “There are a few loyalists that want to impose it on everyone else.”