With its abundance of sunshine, coastline and good times, Pacific Beach seems to have it all ” everything, that is, except for parking.
“Pacific Beach is unusual. Its parking problems are not,” nationally recognized parking expert Dr. Donald Shoup, told the Pacific Beach Community Parking District (PBCPD) when it met Thursday, Oct. 12, at the Earl & Birdie Taylor Library, 4275 Cass St.
Both residents who troll their neighborhoods for parking and visitors combing the beach for a space have felt Pacific Beach’s parking pinch.
According to Shoup, an urban planning professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, the solution to increasing parking and decreasing frustration and lengthy drive-around times is simple: charge people to park.
In his presentation, “The High Cost of Free Parking,” Shoup said that free parking does the most damage to desirable districts. With its sandy beaches and numerous shops, bars and restaurants, Pacific Beach is a prime spot for parking problems. Areas that offer fine shopping, dining and scenery attract the most visitors ” and create the most congestion, Shoup said.
In a recent study in Los Angeles’ Westwood Village, Shoup and his students discovered that drivers spent roughly six to eight minutes driving around looking for a free parking space.
Cruising for parking, he said, creates pedestrian interference, pollution, traffic and wasted fuel. Accidents are also more likely, Shoup said, because motorists drive around cars waiting for parking places, jutting out into oncoming traffic.
The cruising distance over a 15-block area can be approximately 3,600 miles per day, said Shoup, who sees similarities between Los Angeles and Pacific Beach. If it takes a driver three minutes to find a free curb space and the space turns over roughly 10 times a day, that amounts to 30 vehicle-minutes per day and roughly 3,000 vehicle-minutes for 10 cars ” or 912,500 per year, which equals 36 trips around the earth or two trips to the moon.
In an area where many residents feel the beach is not just their backyard, but their birthright, paid parking is a hard concept to sell.
“Why should I pay for parking?” asked Kay Heibel at the recent BeachFest celebration. “I shouldn’t have to pay to come to the beach.”
Many residents and visitors share her attitude.
Shoup equates paid parking with civic responsibility. “Some people act very self-righteous about parking,” he said. People tend to think only of themselves, he added, instead of the big picture.
Paid parking is not only unpopular with residents but also with City Council. “It’s a politically tricky issue,” Shoup said. “Who wants to vote for higher prices?”
The key, he said, is to take the parking revenues and put them back into the community.
Old Pasadena is a perfect example of how paid parking can improve an area, according to Shoup. In the 1970s, Pasadena resembled “skid row” and was a place to be avoided after dark, he said.
In 1978, meters were installed and the money they brought in transformed the area into an attractive, upscale shopper’s paradise, said Shoup.
The tree-lined streets and alleyways are home to local shops as well as successful chains and stores.
Today the meters generate approximately $1.2 million annually in revenue.
Old Pasadena’s meters are the exception. In addition to being largely ineffective, most of today’s meters are obsolete, said Shoup. Many of the meters in Los Angeles are so outdated that parts for them are no longer available.
High-tech meters that charge different prices at different times of day and can be changed remotely are available.
PBCPD chairperson, Katie Cooper, said that new meters in the East Village that accept credit cards have resulted in a 100 percent increase in utilization, though enforcement is more difficult.
Other available devices like the Auto-Parq in-vehicle meter allow drivers to pay for parking inside their car and then hang the meter in the window.
“The technology is there,” Shoup said. “Americans are just ignorant of it.”
Awareness and changing attitudes are critical to the success of paid parking, said Shoup. People should look at paid parking as an opportunity to improve their communities, he added.
“Pacific Beach is a lovely place but it’s ragged around the edges,” said Shoup. Telephone poles obscure beautiful beach views and the sidewalks need repair, he said. He believes that paid parking could change that. “You’re sitting on a gold mine.”
He cautioned that to be successful a community must apply the “Goldilocks principle of parking” to pricing. If parking is too expensive, people will stop coming to an area. If it’s too inexpensive, parking congestion will continue. Eighty-five percent occupancy is ideal, he said.
Many residents, consumers and business owners consider paid parking, whatever the price, less than ideal.
PBCPD members and attendees raised concerns of possible consumer decline in commercial districts and displacement into residential areas already low on parking.
Residential parking permits are one possibility the PBCPD is considering.
Another strategy is a proposed pilot driveway program that would allow residents to park parallel in front of their own driveways. The committee would like to start with single-family residential homes and focus at first on a series of individual blocks rather than one continuous area.
According to PBCPD member Gary Pence, the pilot program could yield a one to two percent increase in parking supply.
The price of the permit is an area of concern, with some committee members believing the permits should just cover necessary costs and others seeing it as an opportunity for much-needed revenue.
Under current city policy, the city pays 45 percent of funds received for permits to neighborhoods, with the option to apply a higher rate.
In light of the crowds that visit Pacific Beach, the committee is also considering a discount for Pacific Beach residents. The committee is also considering higher rates for non-residents and oversized vehicles.
“If they’re willing to pay more, you should let them,” Shoup said. “You have to buy people’s political acceptance.”
The public is welcome at PBCPD meetings. The next one is planned for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Earl & Birdie Taylor Library.
For more information, visit www.pacificbeachparking.org.