PERSPECTIVE : It’s a Growing Sign of Declining Crime--’No Parking’

An increasing number of cities are using an unlikely weapon to fight crime: “No Parking” signs.

From a hill overlooking Laguna Beach to a neighborhood of restored Victorian homes and modest apartments in Santa Ana, officials have imposed parking restrictions to clear the streets of vehicles that police say annoy residents and in some cases encourage crime.

City officials say the measures have proved surprisingly effective. Before Santa Ana’s French Court neighborhood restricted overnight parking in 1993, local streets were lined with cars that provided cover for drug dealers and auto burglars, residents said.

“I used to hear glass breaking, but when I looked outside, I couldn’t see anyone because the [burglars] would just hide behind the cars,” resident Ed McKie said. “Once the cars were gone, there was no place for them to hide. It took away the element that allowed them to thrive.”

Reducing crime has not been the only motive for parking bans. Some cities have used them to settle neighborhood conflicts.

Laguna Beach prohibited motorcycles in front of a hillside restaurant after neighbors complained about the noise when groups of Harley-Davidson bikers arrived for weekend brunch. And Cypress banned recreational vehicle parking on city streets in response to protests from homeowners who found them unsightly.

But the “No Parking” movement is not without its critics, who say the restrictions hurt less-affluent residents of apartment complexes.

Some Costa Mesa residents, for example, say they have to park several blocks from their apartments since the city banned all parking along Shalimar Drive this summer.

“There just isn’t enough parking for people,” community activist Paty Madueno said, adding that some people now have to lug bags of groceries for several blocks.

Costa Mesa officials prohibited Shalimar parking in a bid to reduce gang violence, drug dealing and other problems along the street. The city went a step further than other cities by placing traffic barriers at both ends of Shalimar so that now it is accessible only from side streets.

“It gives an overall feeling of safety,” Costa Mesa Police Capt. David Brooks said. “In the past, residents didn’t feel good about going outside at all. Now, people are open and free to use their front yards and be out on the street.”

But Madueno said the parking restrictions have also caused hardships, especially for car owners who share apartments with other adults but have no parking garage space.

Concerns about the restrictions extend beyond Costa Mesa. Apartment dwellers on Stuart Drive in Garden Grove successfully fought a police proposal to limit street parking. The concept was modeled after a highly touted program in the city’s Buena Clinton district, which officials credit with reducing crime and blight.

But Stuart Drive residents argued that street parking was needed because their apartments did not offer enough garage spots. “Many of those apartments have one space” for each unit, Garden Grove Police Lt. Scott Hamilton said. “Back in the early 1960s, that was adequate. Nowadays, it is not.”

The city is working with residents on other crime-prevention strategies, such as curving the road slight to reduce speeding, Hamilton said.

The situation is more acrimonious in Anaheim, where residents filed a lawsuit earlier this year to block the city’s parking restrictions in the Leatrice-Wakefield district. Residents said the rules force them to park blocks away from their homes and walk through neighborhoods they consider unsafe.

Despite those conflicts, most city officials and residents say they like the limits, which they credit with not only reducing crime but making communities look better.

McKie and others in Santa Ana’s French Court district said the streets are noticeably cleaner since the city imposed nighttime parking limits two years ago. The program, which issues permits to home, duplex and triplex dwellers but not to apartment complex residents, has reduced the number of parked cars on the streets by more than half, according to the city.

With more open space, burglars are less inclined to enter French Court, said Scott McKhann, a Santa Ana associate engineer. Also, drivers can spot pedestrians more easily, he said, reducing the likelihood of accidents.

The city is also working with apartment owners to make more garage spaces available for tenant parking. “A lot of space is used for storage,” McKhann said.

City officials say emphatically that parking restrictions should be applied selectively and only after careful study.

“This is something you need to be deliberate about,” Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. said. “You are talking about public space, but you also need to look at the needs of the community.”