Downtown parking crackdown to begin

The city will begin within two weeks to crack down on downtown employees who continue to park their cars in metered spaces and move them every three hours, which is illegal.

The Chamber of Commerce is mailing about 3,000 brochures that map the location of city parking lots, and provide the hourly, daily and monthly rates.

City staff hand-delivered the brochures to downtown businesses, whose employees will no longer have an excuse to play musical parking spaces, according to City Manager Ken Frank, and will be penalized if they do.

“Within the next two weeks, we are going to flood the downtown with parking personnel and just wait for them to park and then move their cars,” Frank said. “We are offering alternatives, and there is no excuse for them to be parking on Forest Avenue.”

The all-out offensive is the latest maneuver in the longtime battle to clear for customers parking spaces that are taken up by downtown employees during the working day.

“I would like to see some carrot and stick in this so business personnel who arrive at the same time at the Hotel Laguna and the Surf & Sand could benefit by parking at ACT V and shuttle in,” Councilwoman Toni Iseman said.

The brochure also includes information on various parking permits businesspeople and residents may purchase, as well as several city-sponsored programs such as the $3 one-way taxi vouchers and the free rides to work for all employees within the city limits. Laguna Beach Transit Route information is also included.

Brochures are available at the Laguna Beach Visitors Bureau, 252 Broadway, and will be posted at www.lagunabeachcity.net.

For more information, call Parking Program Coordinator Anne B. Belyear at (949) 464-6673.