ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Parking Predicament

Anaheim can take pride that National Hockey League play has officially arrived at the new Anaheim Arena with the inauguration of the regular season. This marks the arrival of the city’s third big-time professional sports franchise, which is a feather in Orange County’s cap and encouragement that one day a National Basketball Assn. franchise might come, too.

But something is not quite right in the promising picture: Police were telling fans to arrive a full 90 minutes before the first game to deal with the arena’s dicey parking problem.

To understand that situation, go back a few years to when the city was in a race to get the new arena built and there was no franchise on the horizon. The city simply fell down on one detail--parking and shuttle facilities to handle the multitudes expected one day. The crowds have now materialized, and the parking situation is the nightmare that some had feared.

Since the seriousness of the problem became clear in June, the Police Department has worked diligently to put together a package of solutions. It includes shuttle service to satellite lots, encouraging area businesses to offer parking and plans to lease a plot that would provide 1,100 parking spaces next year. That’s good as far as it goes.

Anaheim doesn’t have the worst parking situation in the National Hockey League, but neither does it have the mass transportation alternatives that other urban centers enjoy. More needs to be done to cut down the 90 minutes that fans must arrive before a game.

On Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $25 million toward a proposed $223-million parking structure and transportation center in Anaheim. This would serve all of the city’s attractions, especially the proposed new Walt Disney Co. theme park.

This regional hub transit approach and the continued efforts of city officials to improve traffic flow and parking around the new arena are just what the city needs if it wants to make the promise of an expanded entertainment and sports center in Anaheim a successful reality.