NEWPORT BEACH : New Visitor Parking Spots Ease Frustration at City Hall

It’s tough to fight City Hall if you can’t park there.

A few aggravated residents and officials of a redevelopment project have persuaded the city to increase the number of free visitor parking spaces at City Hall.

No one has tracked complaints about the sparse parking situation at City Hall for the past several years, traffic engineer Rich Edmonston said.

But with just two spaces marked for visitors, “we did get some, and some of the department heads said they had complaints from people,” he said. “It was worse when [visitors] would park in an employee space and get a ticket.”

Building and Planning Department officials decided during a public relations seminar more than a year ago that the parking situation looked less than friendly.

“What’s a person’s first impression of City Hall?” Edmonston asked.

Eleven parking spaces available to visitors from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. did little to ease some frustrations.

Remodeling of the Via Lido Plaza shopping center next door gave officials the final nudge to add eight visitor parking spaces.

Edmonston doesn’t fault those who try to save a few quarters by avoiding nearby meters.

“People want to find a place that’s free,” he said. “We’re all like that.”