Holiday Wrapping : Some Parking Meters Are Getting Christmas Off

Ever get a ticket because you did not have enough change for the parking meter? If you live in West Hollywood or several South Bay beach towns, your parking headaches are over, at least during the holidays.

Parking officials in West Hollywood, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach have temporarily wrapped plastic bags over parking meters so last-minute shoppers won’t have to worry about feeding quarters into them.

Thursday was the first time West Hollywood dressed about 1,800 meters with bags that read: “Happy Holidays, Free Parking, 2-Hour Limit.” Officials say that despite the estimated $50,000 in lost revenues over a four-day period, the gesture is needed to help boost local businesses.

“The city wants to ensure there’s a steady flow of patrons for the holidays,” said John Frawley of West Hollywood’s parking enforcement agency.

Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach have provided free holiday parking for years. It is offered from two to five weeks.

Shop owners say it is so helpful they wish parking was always free. “I’m sure it’s helped (business) because the customers are not constantly thinking about ‘I have only so much time in the meter,’ ” said Veronica Maguire of the Alandrea clothing store in Redondo Beach. “They are more relaxed and can shop longer without worrying about their car,” Maguire said.

For that reason, shop owners say parking meters in front of their stores hurt business in general, especially when they are not part of shopping malls with huge free parking structures.

“By creating the free Christmas parking, I feel the city is admitting (that having meters near the stores) is bad for business all year round,” said Garry Frost, owner of Coast Drug in Hermosa Beach.

*

Frost has been in business for more than 20 years and says there were no parking meters on the street when he moved there. “We didn’t realize the meters were going to end up driving people away,” he said.

Shoppers say that what they appreciate is the convenience, not the saving of a couple of dollars.

“It’s a pain to have to carry change,” said Redondo Beach shopper Terry Berger. “I raided my daughter’s piggy bank before I came here because I didn’t know it was free.”

*

The problem, however, is that free parking is only available for two hours. If shoppers stay longer, they have to move their cars or risk getting a ticket.

“If it’s free it should be free all the time,” said Joe Woodard, who was upset that he had to move his car after dinner in a Hermosa Beach restaurant when he wanted to shoot pool a few steps away.

But some store owners say meter maids should strictly enforce the two-hour limit to prevent non-shoppers from using the premium spaces.

“People read ‘two hours’ and they hear ‘all day,’ ” said Jeffrey Scott, owner of Jeffrey Scott Clothing for Men in Redondo Beach. “It’s a nice thing we’re doing for our clients, if it’s not abused. (The sign) should be very explicit in saying . . . ‘Ho, ho, ho, after two hours you go, go, go.’ ”