Plenty of room to complain

BARBARA DIAMOND

When I bought my red Mustang in December, I figured I would have a

little problem parallel parking my hot new car. It drives like a

truck -- I mean you have to turn that sucker -- compared to the agile

Honda that I had driven for 16 years and could park in any open

space. To my delight, after just a couple of weeks, I could dock the

Mustang, maybe not on the first pass, but certainly after a couple of

tries.

Until, that is, Forest Avenue was resurfaced. Suddenly, my car no

longer fit into my favorite space. By choice, I had always parked

just past the alley between the cleaners and the kitchen store. You

can dive in headfirst without having to deal with a car parked behind

you.

While parking on Forest is limited, now it is not just a matter of

finding a space, but finding the space.

Sunday morning, I measured 25 parallel parking spaces between

Glenneyre and Third streets. Only two consecutive spaces measured the

same. The spaces ranged from 160 inches to 274 inches, not counting

the 4, 12-inch-wide stripes. Widths were about 7 feet from curb to

stripes. The wiggle room -- the no-man’s land between the parking

spaces -- ranged from 13 inches to 4 1/2 feet.

Mind you, my measurements were not a high tech operation. Just my

30-foot-long metal tape and me, squatting in the street.

I started measuring early Sunday while many of the spaces were

empty and traffic was still light, making my self-appointed task

easier. Also: I wasn’t looking adorable, dressed in ratty gardening

shorts and Yikes! not even mascara. I really had hoped not to see

anyone I knew. Fat chance.

Michael Hoag wanted to know how the measurements related to

getting cars out of the Downtown and bringing business in -- as he

said, his passion. Barbara Hoag gently advised me to watch out for

traffic.

Water Quality department employee Bernadette McClusky stopped to

say hello and continued walking to Main Beach, “The Da Vinci Code” in

hand.

Robyn Guthrie, owner of Paveway, an asphalt company, also took

pity and helped me measure a couple of spaces.

“We out-source the striping,” she said. “We know how to do black

and make it beautiful, but we use a company to stripe that knows all

the rules and how to make them work.”

To compound the parking problem -- for me and others -- the

meters, which I have always used as a boundary guide, have been put

in the middle of the wiggle room, useless as a guideposts.

“We have pictures of vehicles parked on top of the lines, crowding

other vehicles and making spaces out of nonspaces,” said Sgt. Jason

Kravetz, police department traffic supervisor.

Violations are photographed to document the infractions in case of

complaints.

“Last year, we issued about 45,000 tickets and had about 12,000

complaints,” Kravetz said.

I can’t help but wonder how many drivers parked using the meters

as a guide and never even realized they were inviting a citation. No

one can expect the police to know which is an innocent mistake and

which is a blatant violation.

Admittedly some drivers don’t care if they don’t fit in the

allotted space, but some do.

“I park and then get out and see if I am within the lines,” said

Cort Kloke, on his way Sunday to the movie with his wife, Diane,

daughter, Adria and father, Dean Eisenmayer. “Then I get back in my

car and make an adjustment.”

Me too. But not everyone does, and cars with plenty of room in the

front, flop over into the back wiggle room or vice-versa.

A huge Dodge truck managed to find the longest space I measured,

near the expanded landscaped area at the Glenneyre T, and fitted

comfortably in the 274 inches inside the lines. Unfortunately, even

parked within 5 inches of the curb -- the law allows 18 inches -- the truck stuck out beyond the width marker. And I don’t think an

Infiniti sedan is what is meant by compact car. But there it was,

parked in the only space posted for Compact Cars Only.

The space measured 189 1/2 inches, not including the striping.

Seven smaller spaces on the avenue are not signed for compacts only.

Those eight spaces all measure less than the 192 inches -- 16 feet, which is the standard for compact car parking, according to

Steve May, director of Public Works and city engineer. The standard

length for a full-sized vehicle is about 20 feet. SUVs set their own

standards.

I didn’t measure the three parallel spaces in front of Cedar Creek

Inn -- just forgot about them until I was driving away.

The diagonal spaces along Forest also have come in for some

criticism. People complain that the space is too tight for drivers to

fully open their car doors to get in or out and forget about

passengers exiting at the same time.

Earlier in the year, May said the city minimum is about 7 feet

wide for diagonals and some cities settle for less. A Hummer is

almost that wide with the doors closed, but even my old Honda LX

Accord measured 66.7 inches- -- that doesn’t leave much room for even

a contorted exit, let alone a graceful one, not to mention a modest

one for ladies in short, tight skirts. Trust me, I know.

“We have not measured the diagonals on Forest, but to our

knowledge the width didn’t change,” said street rehabilitation

project manager Derek Weiske. “We did make them longer, so they might

look narrower.”

Two spaces were lost on Forest when the landscaping was extended

at the Glenneyre T. They were replaced by two diagonal spaces on

Ocean Avenue, which was also part of the project. Weiske said the

staff recently measured the spaces on Ocean and is taking another

look at them to be sure they meet the city minimums.

Maybe next Sunday, I’ll do the diagonals on Forest.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652, hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite 22;

call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949) 494-8979.