Local News in Brief : Use Fees for Parking Lots, Panel Urges
A Los Angeles City Council committee urged traffic officials Thursday to use more than $30 million in parking fees to build new municipal parking lots and structures.
The Transportation and Traffic Committee also backed down from a proposal to set parking meter charges at a flat 25 cents per hour after it was learned that the move would cost the city about $5.5 million a year and also cut into accounts set aside for new parking facilities.
Nearly 70% of city meters now charge up to 40 cents an hour, and 703 meters downtown charge $2 an hour.
Transportation chief Ed Rowe said the higher downtown meter rates are aimed at discouraging auto traffic in the city’s most congested areas. He said the rates should not be lowered to 25 cents.
In a related action, panel members Mike Woo and Nate Holden voted to cut all parking meter fees in Holden’s 10th District to 25 cents, but Woo balked at a similar suggestion for his own district. It would take City Council approval to change any parking meter rates.
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