EDITORIAL: Action on parking is smart move

Supporters of preferential permit parking for residents were shocked and displeased when the City Council “just said no” to proposed parking restrictions in two midtown areas of Laguna Beach.

These residents want some peace and quiet in their neighborhoods, and they deserve it.

But the city as a whole will be much better off without a preferential parking program.

The idea of restricting parking on public streets in a designated area while exempting resident permit-holders from the restrictions has been around for about 20 years and has wreaked havoc in many coastal areas.

As Councilman Kelly Boyd said from the get-go in the council hearing, “This could go on through the whole community.” Indeed, that is exactly what happens when parking is taken away for a whole group of people — the public — in one area. Those parkers need some place to go, and that means they’ll go to the next closest area.

Preferential parking for residents can work if the “problem” parkers can be served through designated parking spots.

It has been successful, for instance, in areas adjacent to large universities, where students are accommodated in parking structures built just for them.

But here in Laguna, businesses — especially hotels and restaurants — are blamed for the parking overflow to neighborhoods, and this is borne out by the fact that the area where some have been lobbying for restrictions abuts “hotel row,” which is also a night-life district.

These businesses generate a lot of customer traffic and are also service businesses with many employees.

Those employees need places to park and generally can’t afford to purchase parking on what they make.

Taking away free, open parking spots will only force these employees and customers to go into other neighborhoods to hunt for parking.

Inevitably, residents of those areas will demand the same “protection” that the originally-affected areas got, and so on in a domino effect.

Preferential parking doesn’t solve the problem, it only pushes it around — and pushes one area’s problems off onto others.

Unfortunately, municipalities tend to react favorably to such parking restrictions because they are revenue-generators through increased parking tickets and fees.

So we are proud that Laguna’s council declined to go down that road, or, to paraphrase Boyd, “open up that can of worms.”

Now the city can turn to finding ways to address the issues that drove the permit parking proponents in the first place — by providing designated parking for employees and encouraging customers to be respectful of residents as they walk to and from their cars.