By Les Greenberg
At the request of the Grace Evangelical Church, two City Councilpersons seem hell-bent upon of foisting two-hour parking restrictions upon the 10700 block of Farragut Drive. Since 1982, the City Council has recognized our need for permit-only-parking restrictions. On two occasions, once as recently as Nov. 12, 2013, the City Council grandfathered our status.
Within the last year, the city’s Traffic Engineer — expert in these matters – twice has rejected the church’s request to change our status. He publicly supported our permit-only position at the last grandfathering.
Councilperson Jeff Cooper recently dismissed Farragut residents’ eye-ball testimony as just “anecdotal,” i.e., worthless. He and Councilperson Andy Weissman wanted a study of our situation — at a taxpayer cost of $20,000. Some need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.
But the supposed benefits of two-hour-parking restrictions are only “anecdotal,” and Councilpersons Weissman and Cooper should know it. Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I requested the City of Culver City to provide me with: (1) “All studies and reports dealing with the expected effectiveness and enforceability of two-hour residential parking restrictions in Culver City” and (2) “All studies and reports dealing with the actual effectiveness and enforceability of two-hour residential parking restrictions in Culver City.” Culver City officially responded that it “is not in possession of records responsive to [my] request.”
I suggest that the Council, before trying to come down hard on Farragut, get its own house in order by studying the effectiveness of two-hour parking restrictions. One of our 30-plus-year-Farragut residents, an expert in parking matters, said that he only once saw a tire marked in Culver City. Two-hour parking restrictions may have been designed to fail, but provide residents with the illusion of protecting our neighborhoods.
In 1982, Police Chief Ted Cooke opined that two-hour-parking limits were unenforceable. Based on the Police Chief’s opinion, the Traffic Committee recommended, and the City Council adopted, permit-only-parking restrictions on Farragut.
No study is required to demonstrate the impact that the church’s activities would have on Farragut if we did not have permit-only parking restrictions. Since 1957, the church has not had one on-site parking space. Further, the church’s website describes the extent of its activities: “Grace Church is a community center! We host dozens of outside groups … such as: Meals on Wheels, 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (including Ala-non and Ala-teen), scouting troops for children and youth, and moms’ groups, to name a few. We also have several churches: the Eritreans, Chenzhou Mission, and House Upon the Rock. In addition to our own extensive in-church programs, there are nearly 60 ‘outside group’ events and meetings to help 100s of people at Grace EACH WEEK.” (Emphasis in original.) And where are these “100s of people” to park?
This matter is causing me to lose confidence in the analytical abilities of some of our elected officials. Why won’t they defer to the experts? Further, I worry whether their bullying tactics have caused harm to my fellow Culver City residents.
Mr. Greenberg may be contacted at plgreen@att.net
