Boyle Heights coffeehouse plan still percolating

Last year, Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar embarked on what has become a fascinating little quest: to bring a coffeehouse to Boyle Heights.

It’s not just because Huizar needs a morning jolt. He believes a coffee shop would help reinvigorate the neighborhood, and has even had a few nibbles of interest from a rotating cast of Starbucks officials.

Now comes the news that Starbucks is opening a second store on a single block of trendy Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. The new store -- which replaces a Diedrich Coffee -- will be the fourth Starbucks in a seven-block stretch of Montana.

In a story in this space last year, we asked Starbucks officials if demographics played a role in locating stores -- since Starbucks tend to be clumped in certain parts of town.

Nope, the officials said. Race and residents’ income don’t come into play. Bigger concerns, they said, were parking and whether a location lent itself to the “Starbucks experience.”

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Any difference in the demographics between Santa Monica and Huizar’s 14th District?

Just for giggles, we looked up the Census Bureau statistics for the two areas. The 14th District includes Boyle Heights, Eagle Rock, El Sereno, Hermon and parts of Highland Park, Glassell Park and Mount Washington.

Santa Monica

Starbucks: 17 in eight square miles

Population: 87,800

Race: white, 78.3%; Latino, 13.4%; Asian, 7.3%; black, 3.8%

Median household income: $50,714

Council District 14

Starbucks: two in 23 square miles

Population: 235,036

Race: Latino, 72.4%; white, 11.1%; Asian, 10.6%; black, 4.1%

Median household income: $33,806

No differences there, eh?

“Diedrich chose to exit this location,” said Kimberley Thompson, a Starbucks operations manager in Southern California. “We have a unique opportunity -- instead of opening a new location, we are offering this location to customers so they can have the Starbucks experience.”

Thompson said Starbucks has been a leader in putting stores in urban areas, citing the 17 stores in such communities as Bell, Huntington Park and South Gate.

And, Thompson said, Starbucks is committed to finding the right location in Boyle Heights, but finding the right location remains a challenge.

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What’s Huizar have to say?

He’s actually diplomatic about it, given that Starbucks has shown some interest and is building a new store in nearby East Los Angeles.

Huizar, however, said it’s evident that Starbucks’ market analysis doesn’t put much value on Boyle Heights. He’s looking at a location near 1st Street that is near a new pocket park and a library and will in the next few years have a new police station, constituent center and light-rail line.

“What concerns me,” Huizar said, “is that money is going out of these communities because we don’t have the amenities, and these stores have become a symbol that invites other investments in the community.”

Of course, not everyone in Boyle Heights wants a Starbucks, and a graffiti artist -- who apparently reads The Times -- left a message on a building saying so.

Alvin Parra, who is running against Huizar in the City Council elections March 6, said he would play hardball with Starbucks.

“I’d succeed where Huizar has failed,” Parra said, sounding like one very caffeinated candidate.

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Turning our attention downtown, any news on the streetcar front?

Business interests downtown still are pushing for a return of the streetcar -- and they even have a semblance of a plan.

Their plan, as explained at a recent meeting of the Central City Assn., is to apply for $300,000 in funding from the MTA to do a study on potential funding sources for a project that could cost $60 million and up. Yes, they need funds to study funding!

Attentive readers may recall that the Community Redevelopment Agency last year released a study on reviving a streetcar line downtown -- similar to the 1.5-mile line that the Port of Los Angeles opened in 2003.

But politicians and city and transit bureaucrats aren’t very interested.

One, they’re not exactly enamored with a streetcar-BMW demolition derby at rush hour each day. Two, city officials have their sights set on bigger rail projects.

But the CRA and businesses, led by the Central City Assn., think a downtown line could complement existing bus and rail service and give downtown more of a “sense of place.”

“The DASH buses are great,” Gloria Ohland, an editor with the transit advocacy group Reconnecting America, said at the meeting. “But there’s something about a streetcar.”

No one believes that streetcars are necessarily the best way of moving people around. But they have proven to be good redevelopment tools in other cities -- namely San Francisco and Portland, Ore. -- because the rails are a permanent investment everyone can see. And, of course, there is the heritage issue: Los Angeles once was at the center of the world’s largest interurban streetcar network.

If the plan goes forward -- and this column hopes it gets serious consideration -- there still will be quibbling over routes. The CRA suggested putting it in the heart of downtown, but let’s throw out another idea: What about the eastern, more industrial part of downtown that is beginning to gentrify and where there are still rails in the road?

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What’s new in Metergate?

Two thousand of the city’s meters have gone AWOL.

The city’s Transportation Department recently released its parking report, which mentions there are about 40,000 meters in the city.

Hmmm. This is noteworthy because numerous city reports over the last few years have stated there are 42,000 meters.

“The 42,000 is a number from a number of years ago,” city transportation chief Gloria Jeff wrote in an e-mail. “I don’t know what happened for the numbers to change.”

The report also spells out a long-range plan: replace the city’s meters with new parking technologies and expand the hours that people have to pay to park. The idea is to create more turnover of parking spaces on the street and increase revenues.

Oh, and there’s this little item: They want to CHARGE YOU MORE TO PARK.

Clearly bothering parking officials in Los Angeles is that parking here is far cheaper than it is in other cities, with 88% of L.A.’s meters charging only 25 cents an hour. By contrast, the report says, most other large cities charge more.

Here’s an interesting stat: The amount of revenue that the city collected from parking meters was $21,197,660 in fiscal 2004-05, and declined to $20,598,039 last year. The report doesn’t explain the drop but suggests that the number of vandalized meters is one reason.

So the big challenge for the city’s transportation agency will be settling on a new device to replace the current fleet of meters. Worth watching is whether politicians and lobbyists make a train wreck out of that process.

One lobbyist, in fact, approached this column recently in City Hall and asked if we’d like to meet a client who has some neat parking products.

To which this column should have responded: “Sure, and we’ve always wanted to go fly-fishing with the Dixie Chicks.”

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Next week: A review of the season’s campaign mailers.

steve.hymon@latimes.com