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.

School Board to Consider Surprise Move to Pave Way for City Funding

By Teresa Rochester

Paving the way for a $2.1 million city grant to bail out the school district, the Board of Education is expected to consider a plan Thursday night to make the superintendent's hand-picked Financial Task Force a permanent, staffed oversight committee, sources have told The Lookout.

The strategic move is expected to allay concerns by several council members and parent activists that the district -- which has announced three unexpected budget shortfalls in the last 18 months -- lacks the credibility to manage its finances.

Lack of accountability and who should mandate such an oversight committee - the city or the district - were the sticking points during Tuesday's council deliberations. Unable to agree on conditions placed upon the grant, the council postponed its final decision one week with the hopes that Mayor Ken Genser, who is in the hospital, would be back to cast the necessary fifth vote.

"This is a significant step forward," said one council member, who helped craft the compromise and who asked not to be identified. "This could resolve concerns expressed by council members who did not want to impose programs on the district but wanted them to come out of a partnershipformat."

Councilman Paul Rosenstein -- who has insisted on greater accountability for the district before disbursing the funds -- was unaware the compromise was being brokered.

"No, I didn't know that," Rosenstein said when told a plan would be presented to the board. "It may very well be that it meets the accountability issues I raised."

Rosenstein said he was impressed by the draft report submitted to the school board by the Financial Task Force last week. The four-member task force, which Supt. Neil Schmidt formed in September, is charged with identifying spending and accounting problems that have resulted in a $2.45 million shortfall.

"They clearly would need consulting assistance." Rosenstein said. "I would be very favorably disposed to the city providing some help to them"

While Tuesday night's meeting provided sufficient drama, the cliff-hanger ending left Board of Education members in a financial limbo, with an already tight deadline shrinking.

At Thursday night's specially scheduled meeting, the board is expected to discuss a revised list of potential program and staff cuts. Board members must vote on any cuts on March 2 in order to meet a state-mandated March 15 deadline to issue any layoffs.

The looming deadline had board member Margaret Quinones wondering if an emergency meeting may be necessary.

"We have a March 15 deadline," Quinones said. "I'm trying to figure out how we can push that deadline to the limit."

"Right now we're going to be in a holding pattern," said Tom Pratt, the board's vice president. Pratt added that the discussion of potential cuts will go on, and the board needs to set priorities.

Board member Dorothy Chapman, however, was more skeptical.

"I'm afraid the board will spin its wheels and again avoid making the hard decisions and asking the tough questions," Chapman said.

"Tomorrow [Thursday] there will be more speech making about how we shouldn't be making any cuts, we're there for every kid and we'll find the money somewhere instead of sitting down and making the hard decisions."

Anthony O. Rochester contributed to this report.