SANTA ANA : Parking Restricted to Cut Traffic, Crime

The City Council this week approved tightened parking restrictions in the neighborhood near Willard Intermediate School in an effort to improve security and traffic flow.

The Willard neighborhood, near the Washington Square area, is bounded by Civic Center Drive, Flower Street, 17th Street and Broadway. In 1990, Santa Ana police responded to about 5,000 calls within the area.

Parking meters will be installed on streets south of Washington Avenue to Civic Center Drive between Washington Avenue and 17th Street, on both sides of Flower Street from 17th Street to Civic Center Drive, and on the north side of Washington Avenue from Flower Street to Broadway.

Only residents with parking permits will be allowed to park in the neighborhood between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Other vehicles will be towed.

Additional 24-hour permit parking has also been established in the Washington Square neighborhood to prevent the Willard neighborhood’s problems from moving into that area, said George Alvarez, city engineer.

The new regulations will become effective in July.

The restrictions prompted Councilman Robert L. Richardson to suggest attacking drug problems in the neighborhood by enforcing state and federal laws that prohibit drug sales within 1,000 feet of a school.

“We need to send a message to the community that we’re not going to tolerate what’s going on across the street from that school,” Richardson said.

The state law could result in three to five years being added to the sentences of convicted drug dealers, and federal prosecution could result in even longer jail sentences, Police Chief Paul M. Walters said.

Richardson said the neighborhood is becoming overcrowded and is deteriorating. He suggested additional foot and bicycle police patrols.

City officials are also citing apartment building owners in the area who have violated city codes by enclosing patio areas and renting them out as rooms.

And the city plans to plant 200 trees in the Willard neighborhood and will be spending $1.3 million to improve streets, gutters and curbs there.