$35,000 to tell us what we know

It took six months of work and $35,000 for the city to learn that if you give visitors and employees free, convenient parking next to businesses, they will park there instead of in front of homes.

Duh!

Residents of the busy south-of-downtown mid-section of Laguna Beach have complained for years about outside folks clogging their neighborhoods with vehicles.

The area is metered along the commercial strip, so people hunting for free or long-term spots turn into neighborhood streets.

Residents, calling themselves “Flatlanders,” banded together to try to get parking relief.

Last spring, they got the attention of city officials who agreed to find out what was causing the parking crunch in the area -- as if the Flatlanders didn’t already know.

For 60 days, 75% of the meters between Thalia Street and Bluebird Canyon Drive on Coast Highway and Glenneyre Street were covered up with bags that proclaimed the spots free to all.

Then parking experts were sent out to count the cars that came and went, determine whether they were owned by residents or nonresidents, and note where they parked.

Lo and behold, the bagging resulted in half the number of neighborhood spaces occupied by non-residents.

Here is the exact wording of the final report: “At 7 a.m., when the meters were bagged, there were approximately 35 [neighborhood] spaces occupied by non-residents. At 7 a.m., when the meters were not bagged, there were approximately 70 spaces (twice as many compared with the conditions with bags) occupied by non-residents.”

The study concludes: “Bagging the on-street metered spaces dramatically reduced the number of spaces occupied by non-residents along neighborhood streets.”

So why doesn’t the city simply remove the parking meters to give the residents relief? Because this would cost the city $30,000 to $40,000 in annual parking fees. And the study did not measure the effect on area businesses from the loss of metered parking spots.

Indeed, the study further concludes that, “There is simply not enough parking supply in the study area to accommodate everyone’s needs.”

Need it be said? Duh.

Now that everyone has recognized the obvious, planning for more parking in the area can commence.

Any questions?