Ventura Boulevard Merchants Fight to Remove Parking Ban : Tarzana: Profits have tumbled, businesses contend. Councilman Marvin Braude seeks to lift the restriction.

Traffic has moved so smoothly along Ventura Boulevard the last two years that it has driven right past the nail shop that Susie Ngo manages, causing a 40% drop in her business, she said Thursday.

The reason: no-parking signs posted along the popular business street, making it impossible for customers to find a place to park between 7 and 9 a.m. and between 3 and 7 p.m.

Though the signs were initially installed to increase the flow of traffic along the boulevard, in reality they have all but killed many small businesses and led to the closure of others, said Pat Zicarelli, president of the Tarzana Chamber of Commerce.

Especially hard hit have been merchants who rely on impulse shoppers for business, who typically stop along the boulevard to make a quick purchase, Zicarelli said.

In an effort to reclaim the boulevard’s curb, Zicarelli joined forces with Citizens United to Restore the Boulevard, a group of Ventura Boulevard merchants with the goal of having the parking restrictions removed.

The two organizations have caught the attention of Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude, who this week said he would ask the Department of Transportation to remove most of the restrictions.

“We have to balance the needs of drivers and the needs of merchants,” Braude said. “I think the public interest will be best served this way.”

If the Department of Transportation approves his request, merchants and shoppers can expect all restrictions to be removed within the next few months along the north side of Ventura Boulevard between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Reseda Boulevard, Braude said. On the south side of the strip, parking would remain restricted between 6 and 9 a.m., he said.

But for merchants like Ngo, the damage has already been done.

“We wish they would have taken the signs down earlier,” said Ngo, who manages Susie’s Nails in Reseda. “We’re usually busy in the evenings so the parking restrictions have been a problem.”

To provide more parking for customers, Ngo said, the shop’s owner has paid $100 a month to rent five parking spaces from the apartment building behind the store.

Other merchants such as Henry Tarica, owner of Tarix Printing in Reseda, said he believes he will face tough times trying to reclaim his lost clients. Tarica said his business has dropped 20% in two years.

“It takes a long time to build up good will with a customer, but it takes only a second to lose it,” Tarica said. “Now we’ve got to start working on bringing our customers back.”

Meanwhile, residents who are likely to experience more traffic on Ventura Boulevard should the restrictions be removed criticized the plan.

“We are not in favor of anything that is going to cause more traffic or more congestion on Ventura Boulevard,” said Rhoda Rand, a board member of Homeowners of Encino. “It’s going to make the problems worse for people driving on Ventura Boulevard.”