W. Hollywood Residents Win Parking Battle

Residents in West Hollywood’s Shoreham Heights neighborhood have won a battle with businesses in their community for parking spaces.

At its next meeting, the City Council is expected to adopt restrictions that would prohibit workers and business patrons from parking on residential streets during weekends and from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weekdays. Horn Avenue, Clark and Larrabee streets and Shoreham and Sherborne drives would be affected.

The measures, which the council tentatively approved last week, were proposed after residents complained about sharing their 90 street parking spaces with hundreds of employees and customers.

“The restrictions are a step in the right direction,” said Sibyl Zaden, president of the Shoreham Heights Neighborhood Assn., which had lobbied for daily 24-hour parking restrictions. “We don’t want to seem like we are totally opposed to the businesses in the area, but the parking situation is just miserable, and we don’t think it’s fair to have them encroaching on our neighborhood.”

Apartment buildings and condominiums, many with more than 100 units, tower over the hillside community, located just north of the famed Sunset Strip. Most residents park their cars in underground garages, but others said they must circle the neighborhood in search of parking spaces on the narrow, winding streets.

“Some of the buildings can only provide one parking space per apartment, so if one resident is parked in the garage, his roommate will have to find a spot on the street,” said David Weissfeld, president of a condominium association on Horn Avenue. “Also, it is impossible to invite guests over because there’s never any place for them to park.”

Most managers of large businesses on Sunset Boulevard, like Spago and Tower Records, said they provide parking for their employees and most of their customers. But the operators of some small businesses said they will be adversely affected by the restrictions because their employees and patrons park on the street.

“There’s nowhere else for us to park,” said Joni Booher, who manages a bikini shop in a mini-mall on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Larrabee Street. “There are eight businesses here and only four metered parking spaces out front. I can’t pay $10 a day to park there, so I park on Larrabee.”

A luggage salesman, who opened his shop in the area six months ago, predicts the parking situation will become bleak and he has started looking for a new location.

“I’m already losing so much business because people can’t park their cars to come visit my store, and the new rules are going to make it worse,” he said. “The first thing I’ll look for at my new store is plenty of parking.”

However, other business managers said they would find ways to work around the restrictions, which are expected to receive final City Council approval on Nov. 21.

Wolfgang Puck, chef and owner of Spago, said: “The neighborhood is for the neighbors, not for people who want to go shopping or who want to leave their cars and go to a club.”

Now that they have night-time parking, residents said they will push for more restrictions.

“We’re still going to push for 24-hour parking restrictions on our streets,” Weissfeld said. “The new restrictions only start at 7 p.m., so people who don’t work during the day or who get home at 5 p.m. still won’t be able to find spaces.”

But operators of small businesses said they would be forced to leave the area if 24-hour parking restrictions were established.

“This is a car culture, and we’ll just die without access to street parking spaces,” said Kathy Orlando, buyer and manager of a gift shop on Sunset Boulevard. “What’s worse is that if we left, who knows what kind of derelicts would start moving into the neighborhood?”

Boris Bagdassarroff, who has lived in the area for seven years, suggested that the City Council establish 2-hour parking-limit zones to accommodate customers who shop in the area.

“That way, the businesses would have space for their customers, but it is their responsibility to find spaces for their employees,” he said.

City Transportation Manager Mary Anne Jones said she will investigate the availability of underground parking at large office complexes, such as the Carolco Building or Sunset Towers for employees of small businesses. Jones also said she will gather business people and residents to discuss other possible parking restrictions.

City Council member Abbe Land said: “The residential areas were developed with insufficient planning for parking, and many businesses were built without enough parking. I don’t think it’s right to penalize either group for that. I’m sure that with more discussion we can find a compromise.”