Culver City : Street Project Draws Concern

Merchants along Sepulveda Boulevard fear a decline in business because a plan to widen the street, adopted this week by the Redevelopment Agency, will eliminate 17 parking spaces.

Merchants attending the agency meeting asked that parking be allowed on the west side of Sepulveda during non-rush hours, but their request was denied.

Allan Goldman of Culver City Hardware presented a petition signed by 400 residents that asked for non-rush hour parking on the street.

“We get a lot of traffic through our front door. . . . It will be a definite loss of business,” Goldman said. Although his hardware store has parking behind the building, businesses that do not will lose many customers, he added.

Goldman said merchants support the widening project but will keep asking the city to approve their proposal for limited parking. They contend that the city did not have adequate information when it denied their proposal, and will consider financing a traffic study to present to the agency, he said.