The obvious answer to the question in the headline is of course, “yes.”
If only the answer ended there. We are a beach city in the height of summer. We have hundreds if not thousands of people coming to our beach during weekends and even during the week. It is beyond obvious that parking is a problem.
As some readers may know, there is a public hearing on the issue of parking along the south side Electric Avenue today, Thursday, July 14, at 6 p.m. in Council chambers. What you may not know is that there is a sharp divide on what we, the residents actually want.
During the storm drain project on Electric, temporary parking was permitted on the south side of Electric (the side closest to the beach).
After construction, some residents expressed to staff the idea that this parking should be continued, particularly since on the north side of Electric in the 13th–17th streets, parking had been removed as a result of red curbs being painted to allow emergency vehicle access down them. In case you haven’t been on them, they are very narrow with cars parked on both sides.
I will draw my bright line in the sand and say simply—absolutely no more parking along Electric.
The Greenbelt is a wonderful pedestrian and open space park that was designed for the entire community to enjoy.
It is not a buffer for a parallel parking lot simply because your garage is full or you own a non-conforming building with not enough parking spaces and too many tenants and vehicles.
Why aren’t we enforcing code, which mandates garages be just that, a garage for your car?
How many cars do we really need in Old Town? As far as I can tell, we have far, far too many.
We already have too much parking along Electric.
What we need is correct signage, improvement of safety, proper code enforcement and an active dialogue for our residents. Numbered streets should have the same one hour parking restriction that exists in most of the rest of Old Town. You don’t have a residential parking pass and are there more than an hour, you get a ticket. You park there on a street sweeping day, you get a ticket. You have a garage full of stuff and you can’t park your car in it, you get a ticket. These would seem to be consistent and in alignment with the rest of the community.
Why not have a code enforcement officer dealing with garages?
Further, we have a safety issue in the Greenbelt and Electric. You already can’t see out of the alley between 13th and 14th to turn onto Electric, and if you try, you sometimes can’t even make the turn because cars are so tight in.
You can’t see children, animals or pedestrians between cars crossing from the Greenbelt to the sidewalks. No doubt someone will say, well, until it happens, there isn’t really a safety issue. Tell that to the parents of the child struck by a car, or the owners who lost their family dog. As for the bicycle lanes, they don’t exist on the south side and now, with parking on both sides, it is impossible for a car to pass a cyclist.
I watched just this week an apparently irritated motorist honking at a cyclist to get out of the way on Electric because, apparently, the shared lane wasn’t moving fast enough for the motorist.
What is a motorist going to do next, hit the cyclist to get them out of their way? We can see the lawsuit coming with that one, right? The city will be on the hook for the first accident, and we, as the taxpayers will ultimately foot that bill. Residents should realize that this community is not here purely for your convenience—to park four of your household’s four vehicles on the street.
If you do have that many, first, shame on you for over-consumption; second of all, learn to share.
We have to learn to share parking spaces, share cars and simply demand less. Open space is at a premium where we live, yet part of what we pay for to be residents is to be within walking distance of the beach and to have a fairly idyllic lifestyle while in town.
Don’t ruin a park and part of our community for the sake of parking. Regardless of your views, come to the meeting tonight and let’s talk. Maybe we can come up with some creative solutions to parking issues in Old Town.
Oh, and in case you are interested, I have a parking space and no car, so if you need a place to park, let me know, I am sure I could rent it to you at a reasonable price.
Seth Eaker is a immediate past president of the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce amd founder of Black Marble Consulting LLC.
