‘No Parking’ Near High School

Hundreds of students who are driving to their first day of class at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School this morning found themselves confronted by dozens of “no parking” signs posted on Hawthorne Boulevard and neighboring residential streets around the campus.

In a move that caught students and school officials by surprise, the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to restrict parking around the campus. Because of declining enrollment, the peninsula’s four high schools were consolidated this semester into a single campus at Hawthorne and Silver Spur Road. School officials expected 3,000 students but had parking for only 400 cars on campus.

“They gave us no warning,” school board member Brent Goodrich said of the no-parking signs. He called the council vote “irresponsible” and said it will have “a serious impact” on the new school’s parking problems.

City Councilman Melvin W. Hughes defended the city’s action, saying: “We are looking at several hundred student cars impinging on parking spaces on Hawthorne and nearby residential streets. That’s unacceptable. Our residents don’t deserve to be treated like that.”