Cherry Creek dries up after paid parking
On Wednesday, Feb. 6, I had a visit at our family-owned gallery from one of America’s finest landscape painters, Clive R. Tyler. Clive lives in Colorado and noticed the “No On Street Paid Parking” T-shirt hanging in our window and proceeded to tell me how much La Jolla reminded him of a small upscale town in Colorado named Cherry Creek, which had had very similar circumstances to La Jolla with the city of Denver pushing for and finally getting on-street paid parking with the help of a local advisory board.
Clive said that since that time, several of the local small businesses that helped give the community its charming “village” character have closed and that the town has heavily changed to office buildings.
It seems the inconvenience and aggravation of the new on-street paid parking had driven many of the town’s patrons to its local malls and that with the loss of business, quite a few local, longtime family-owned shops had closed.
It’s a shame that our local La Jolla Community Parking District Advisory Board, in failing to represent the wishes of La Jolla’s citizens, has apparently decided that on-street paid parking revenues are more important than preserving the character and charm of our community.
Keith Kelman, K. Nathan Gallery, La Jolla
Below the surface
Just a quick note from a fan to tell Judith Garfield how much I enjoy her column.
I’ve been diving for years, and when I read “Tide Lines” I feel like I’m below the surface with everybody. Plus I learn so much! Thanks for the hard work!
Jerry Cesak, La Jolla
No constructive answers
San Diego City Councilman Kevin Faulconer is “hoping to develop an ordinance that’s fair and that works” regarding a ban on the overnight parking of RVs (Village News, Feb. 7, page 3).
The hair-trigger snap of the council member in abandoning community discussions regarding alcohol restrictions on the beach doesn’t lead us to believe that (in the poet Oliver Goldsmith’s words) “to the last moment of his breath, on hope the wretch relies.”
In fact, Suzanne Bradbury of Ocean Beach, in her letter to the Village News (“How is RV tax fair?,” Feb. 14, page 8), asks some insightful questions regarding the fairness and efficacy of taxation, regulation and, if I might add, prohibition.
Given the current state of our political economy, I doubt the governing clique can give any constructive answers to the RV parking dilemma, or anything else, for that matter.
For example, Mr. Faulconer says that the City Council will answer questions of affordable parking and storage after the program is enacted, yet council is deferring the cost analysis of the ordinance to the mayor’s office.
Do we really think that Wimpy will pay us on Tuesday for a hamburger today or that the check really is in the mail?
With a broken, bankrupt government as the elephant in the parlor of our civic culture, I have to sympathize with law enforcement officers like Sgt. Bill Davis and RV owners like Suzanne Bradbury. And with City Council members like Kevin Faulconer, I feel sorry for us all.
Danny Morales, Point Loma
