Ventura Blvd. : Parking Meters on Way in Encino

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved the installation of 1,000 parking meters along Ventura Boulevard in Encino, acting over homeowners’ opposition.

“They’re making a stupid move,” Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, said after the 12-0 vote. Silver said his group wants to reduce traffic congestion by going the other way: banning parking on the boulevard from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Parking is now prohibited during the rush hours, but the boulevard is choked with traffic all day long, Silver said.

Brad Rosenheim, a deputy to Councilman Marvin Braude, who represents Encino, said that a parking ban on the boulevard might simply move the parking problem onto side streets and closer to homes.

He said a parking ban could still be considered if it is recommended in a plan for the boulevard now being prepared. Until then, Rosenheim said, the $200,000 a year expected from the 25-cents-an-hour parking meters can be used for traffic-related improvements such as construction of parking lots.

The installation of meters on the boulevard was recommended by the city Department of Transportation, which said it costs too much to enforce existing one- and two-hour parking limits, which apply outside the hours 8 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Officials said that two trips are now required, one to mark tires and another to give tickets.

Rosenheim said he expects the meters to be installed within a few months.