Another Look at Parking

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Just in the last week the CRA (whose website is all Flash… is that legal under Section 508 rules?) put up the initial reports from their Downtown Parking Study. Today the LA Business Journal follows with a piece titled ”L.A.’s Downtown Renaissance Resulting in Parking Shortage.”

The report, based on interviews with residents, business owners and office workers, found that street parking was full during daytime hours, although many of the meters were broken. Private parking garages were found to have confusing traffic patterns and overly expensive prices, and many respondents said surface lots were subject to crime and vandalism.

“The challenges of parking are greater in magnitude than we ever imagined,” said the CRA’s Jeff Carpenter, who suggested formation of a city/county parking authority that could regulate, manage and set rates for downtown’s parking supply. “Downtown faces the prospect of being stuck in a lower level (of development) than it deserves to be.”

The parking study still has a long ways to go, but it’s good to see documents start to come out of it.

The released Best Practices document can be found on the study’s documents page. It’s a good read, not at all technical.