City Preps Residents to Defend Beach Parking Zones

By Jorge Casuso

On the surface, it seemed just another meeting of city staff and their constituents.

But with seven Ocean Park preferential parking zones on the line - all of them more than 10 years old -, Saturday's meeting at the Ken Edwards Center was anything but routine.

Instead of just providing information and listening to concerns, planning department staff helped coach and organize some three dozen residents for a crucial Coastal Commission meeting Tuesday morning.

After a year's delay, the commission finally will decide the fate of 936 preferential parking spaces south of Pico Boulevard and east of Lincoln Boulevard that were created by the city without commission approval between 1983 and 1989. The commission discovered the spaces in 1998, while considering the Edgemar Development project on Main Street.

"Don't be exclusionary," Planning Director Suzanne Frick advised the residents. "What is important is to put a face on this issue. We don't want to alienate this commission."

Among the key points city staff encouraged residents to make are the dearth of street parking, the availability of parking in beach lots and the make up of the community (it is not just rich homeowners).

Residents who spoke at Saturday's meeting said they feared that if preferential parking is revoked they wouldn't be able to move their cars or entertain guests, especially on weekends, because there will often be nowhere to park near their homes.

"I can't leave during the day, but there are empty spaces on the beach," said one resident who lives in a zone near Main Street with no daytime restrictions. "As usual, the residents are going to be caught in the middle of this squabble."

While there are 2,400 spaces in Ocean Park's two beach lots, it costs $7 to park ($6 during the winter.) By comparison, unrestricted street parking is free.

Frick, however, warned against bringing up the underused lot, saying that lowering the rates - which already are cheaper than the rates at Venice Beach and Will Rogers State Park - is not on the table.

She did encourage residents who blamed the parking woes not on beach goers, but on employees and customers of Main Street businesses, to speak out on Tuesday.

"It's a major impact," said Roger Genser, a 22-year resident of Ocean Park who helped organize the first Ocean Park zone in 1983. "It was a reaction against Main Street. It had nothing to do with beach parking."

Tuesday's decision will center on whether Santa Monica's zones restrict access to the beach, which the Coastal Commission was created in 1976 to protect.

Commission staff has recommended that the seven zones be retained - with the caveat that the city must reapply for the permits in three years. The city opposes that condition, saying it would be too costly, inhibit long-range planning and leave residents in limbo. Instead city staff is proposing to conduct a parking monitoring program and file a report within five years.

Commission staff also is requiring the city to create 154 spaces to help replenish those taken up by preferential parking. Of these, 65 already have been created. The city also must keep the Tide and Pier beach shuttles running during the summer months.

While Coastal Commission staff seems sympathetic to the plight of beach area residents, it is impossible to predict what the commission will do, Frick said. One warning sign was a complaint by a commissioner who visited the beach to watch the sunset and found no place to park.

"We've been discussing this with the staff for a year and a half," Frick said. "I think this really boils down to philosophical issues with the commission."

Although the city has been negotiating with commission staff, it also has made it clear that it is prepared to file a lawsuit if the commission revokes the zones.

"We have a difference of legal opinion as to whether the Coastal Commission even has authority," Frick said. "We would prefer to go through the process and have a positive outcome."

Since the Coastal Act was passed in 1976, the Coastal Commission has required cities to apply for permits for the special parking zones.

Historically, the Coastal Commission has granted permission for preferential parking zones in coastal communities, often imposing strict conditions to ensure plenty of public parking and beach access.

Since 1982 the commission has approved three applications from Hermosa Beach, Santa Cruz and Capitola. The commission, however, has denied preferential parking permits for Santa Monica's closest neighbors - Venice to the south and Pacific Palisades to the north.

In 1998 approximately 7.5 million visitors flocked to Santa Monica beaches. Over the past 28 years beach attendance has grown by 20 percent.

City Manager Susan McCarthy, who did not attend the meeting, said it would be "unforgivable" if residents weren't prepared given what's at stake.

"The Coastal Commission has a relatively clear mission laid out in the law, and in this situation, it may not be a mission that is sympathetic," McCarthy said. "This would certainly be a profound change."

The Coastal Commission will meet Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the Four Points Sheraton, 530 Pico Blvd.

Staff writer Teresa Rochester contributed to this report.

By Teresa Rochester

In the hours following a suspicious pre-dawn blaze that gutted their gym, Mike and Mary Cates vowed to bounce back.

The Cates' are making good on their word -- starting this Saturday with a pep rally for the Broadway Gymnastic School at Santa Monica's famed muscle beach.

"It's a chance for the kids to see their coaches and classmates," said spokeswoman Mary Schnack, a former gym employee, whose daughter Ericka attended the gym for 14 years.

Schnack and her daughter caught the first plane out of Sedona, Arizona, where they currently live, when they heard about the fire that broke out in the early morning hours of Jan. 28.

"The kids are sad and they need to see there is a future," Schnack said about Saturday's pep rally.

The event, which will give kids a chance to work out on gymnastics equipment, will take place from noon to 2 p.m. and will be hosted by Olympic gold medalist Peter Vidmar, who holds his annual invitational gymnastics competition at the 20-year old gym.

Saturday's pep rally will also kick off a raffle to help raise money for Broadway Gymnastics. Tickets are $3 each or 12 tickets for $30. The drawing will take place on April 11 during half-time at the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Sun's basketball game. Schnack said the idea for the raffle came from a parent who suggested it might be a good way to get the children who attended the gym to help out.

On Monday, classes will begin again for the more than 1,000 children a month Broadway Gymnastics serves at locations throughout Santa Monica including the YWCA, the YMCA and the Police Activities League. The Cates' are looking for a new permanent location.

"The community has just opened their arms to help," said Schnack.

But while the Cates' and their supporters move forward, the cause of the blaze which destroyed $500,000 in gym equipment, is still under investigation.

Santa Monica Fire Department Chief Mike Curtis said the fire that ripped through the warehouse-like structure is considered suspicious by authorities.

"If they can't find any natural causes they need to look down stream," Curtis said. "We found some areas that didn't look right because of the burn patterns."

The fire department called in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to help investigate the blaze. The 25 member team arrived last Friday and results of their investigation are expected in two to three weeks.

"When Los Angeles City Fire Department said 'you're going to need help,' we called them in," Curtis said.

For more information on Broadway Gymnastics and Saturday's pep rally call their hot line at 450-0012 or on the World Wide Web at www.broadwaygymnastics.com. A fund to help rebuild Broadway Gymnastics has also been set up at Santa Monica Bank. Those interested in donating can call the hotline or drop in at one of the local branches.