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.

Most Pedestrians at Fault in Fatal Accidents

By Teresa Rochester

At first, Kelly Love didn't see the teenage girl and her family step into the crosswalk at Pico Boulevard and 31st Street on the night of January 31.

When she did, the recently arrived actress from Texas slammed on the brakes of her red convertible sports car. Witnesses heard the screech of tires, then saw the car hit the girl.

While the teenager survived the crash with minor cuts and scratches, others crossing Santa Monica streets have not been so lucky. And in most of those cases, police found the pedestrians at fault.

Of the 24 vehicle accidents where pedestrians were killed between 1994 to 1999, investigators found that 17 accidents were the fault of pedestrians, according to a report compiled by Police Chief James T. Butts and submitted to the City Council last week. Pedestrian fatalities accounted for more than half of the 48 fatal traffic collisions during that period.

"In large part this is the consequence of so many vehicles and so many people," Butts said of the traffic fatalities. "We're an 8 ½-square-mile city that has the traffic of a metropolis several times larger."

The most effective way of curbing pedestrian accidents is aggressive enforcement and public education, Butts said.

The police department has initiated a series of stings across the city to nab motorists that speed through crosswalks. The operation calls for a team of motorcycle officers to wait beyond the intersection as a plainclothes officer attempts to cross the street. The motorcycle officers then flag down and ticked motorists who fail to stop.

During the first quarter of fiscal year 1999/00, the Supplemental Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) generated a total of 413 citations, of which approximately 63 percent were for hazardous violations.

Police also are working closely with other city departments to promote safety through education. The effort includes two public education campaigns, "Slow Down Santa Monica" and "Let's Watch Out for Each Other."

"We have to keep (safety) foremost in the public's mind -- not only adults, but starting in the grade schools," Butts said.

Butts notes that the efforts have paid off. Although Santa Monica has experienced a two percent growth in traffic volume since 1988, traffic collisions involving an injury have declined 46 percent between 1985 and 1998. Overall, traffic collisions have declined 36.5 percent over the same period.

Butts also attributes the decrease to "an aggressive and proactive traffic engineering component."

Still crossing a Santa Monica street can prove fatal.

Of the three traffic-related fatalities last year all involved pedestrians. In two of the accidents, police found the pedestrians were at fault. In the third case, "the pedestrian's actions significantly contributed to the collision," according to the report.

In 1998, four of the city's nine traffic-related fatalities involved pedestrians who were found to be at fault or whose actions were significant factors causing the collisions.

Only one pedestrian death occurred in 1997, when a drunk pedestrian ran along side a Big Blue Bus as it pulled away from a stop. The pedestrian slipped and slid under the bus.

In 1996, four people died as result of cars hitting pedestrians. Of those four incidents, policed determined based upon evidence and witness statements, that three of the accidents were caused by the pedestrian. The fourth incident was a hit and run with speeding considered a likely reason.