GARDEN GROVE : Action on Stuart Drive Parking Ban Delayed

City Council consideration of a Police Department proposal to prohibit street parking on Stuart Drive has been delayed until February.

Mayor Bruce A. Broadwater recommended sending the proposal back to the Traffic Commission for further study after about a dozen apartment owners and residents showed up at a council meeting last week to protest the plan.

No one spoke before the council, but in interviews later, the apartment owners said the plan to prohibit street parking was “discriminatory.”

“It’s kind of turning our neighborhood to a ghetto,” said Linda Johnson, who owns a 10-unit apartment rented mostly to Latino tenants. “We feel like we’re unwanted.”

Police proposed blocking off Rockinghorse Road south of Stuart and imposing the street parking ban to discourage drug-dealing, auto thefts and improve traffic safety in the area.

A city study in September indicated that at least 575 off-street parking spaces are available, but garages are being used for storage, and others have people living in them.

On any night, about 180 vehicles are parked on the street, which could accommodate only about 145 vehicles, the study said.

This creates safety problems and slows the movement of ambulances and fire trucks responding to medical emergencies, the police said.

But Vincent Vanderburgh, owner of a 16-unit apartment, said that eliminating street parking will not help solve crime.

“The problem is overpopulation,” said Vanderburgh, adding that it’s a citywide problem, and picking Stuart Drive was “discriminatory.”