BREA : Petition Seeks End to Parking Permits

Robert Cook says he cannot understand why he needs a permit to park in front of his own home.

“If you live here and you pay taxes here, you should be able to park in front of your own home,” Cook, 33, said.

Cook is upset over a city ordinance that prohibits parking on any street from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. for more than 30 minutes without a permit. He wants the law changed and has begun collecting signatures on a petition asking city officials to abolish parking permits.

About 200 people have signed Cook’s petition, which he plans to present to the City Council when it discusses the matter at a study session Sept. 7 at 4 p.m.

When Cook first approached the council about the issue last week, Councilman Carrey J. Nelson agreed with him, saying the reason the law was enacted in 1977 was because the streets used to be cleaned during those early morning hours. Today, street sweeping is done between 5:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., Monday through Friday.

Jim Cutts, director of development services, conceded he did not know why the parking permit requirement came about but said it was “a quality-of-life issue.”

“It’s a visual blight to have a lot of cars parked on the streets,” Cutts said. “There shouldn’t be a need to have to park on the street, but that’s why we have the parking permit process--because we understand that there are extenuating circumstances.”

About 3,800 parking permits were issued last year, officials said.

Some residents, however, said they don’t think the free permits are issued fairly.

“It should be my prerogative to park in front of my house when I wish to,” said George Feiereisen, who lives on Cliffwood Avenue.

Feiereisen was denied a permit twice because he has a two car-garage but doesn’t use it to store his cars. Instead, he parks three cars in his driveway and wants to park one of the three in front of his house.