Parking survey suggests a busy Downtown

Paul Clinton

Usage of a central Downtown parking structure has doubled since last

year, a sign of the popularity of the area, city officials said.

Results of a survey, that counted the number of vehicles that used the

Main Promenade parking structure over the weekend of May 11 to 13, showed that nearly twice as many cars used the lot this year as compared to

last.

“In general we’re getting a lot more cars in there than we used to,”

said Steve Benson, the city’s supervisor of parking and camping. “Over

the past three or four years, it’s been growing.”

The structure, which is on Main Street between Walnut and Olive

avenues, is a couple of blocks away from the Huntington Beach Pier.

While usage has been on the rise for a couple of years, this last year

saw a monumental jump according to the numbers during peak hours on the

surveyed weekend.

Vehicles were counted at six two-hour increments starting at 2 p.m.

and ending at midnight each of the three days. A seventh count was done

at 1 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

The biggest increases in usage occurred at midnight Friday, from 250

to 497 vehicles, and Saturday at 10 p.m., from 406 to 663. The 4 p.m.

Sunday count also showed a huge jump, from 353 to 700. Those jumps work

out to 99%, 63% and 98% respectively.

The structure, and surrounding retail shops, opened in 1990, after the

city partnered with Los Angeles developer Robert Koury Properties. The

structure cost $17 million, Benson said.

The city charges an hourly rate of $2 to park in the structure, with a

ceiling of $9 per day. The structure began paying for itself several

years ago, when the city decided to raise the rates.

The city is still mulling whether to close Main Street to cars and

other vehicles and use it as a pedestrian walkway.

* PAUL CLINTON is a reporter with Times Community News. He covers City

Hall and education. He may be reached at (714) 965-7173 or by e-mail ato7 paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .