Sherman Oaks : Newsstand Parking Changes Blasted

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s recent painting of a curb near a long-established newsstand has owners Joe Gianfrancesco and Chris Fernandes seeing red.

According to Fernandes, who co-owns the Sherman Oaks Newsstand at the southwest corner of Ventura and Van Nuys boulevards, the transportation department two months ago began to lengthen the red no-parking zone on the west side of Van Nuys, south of Ventura Boulevard. The city painted the entire curb red from Ventura to the alley, except for the curb directly adjacent to the newsstand, which it painted yellow, for loading only.

The new loading zone preempted two metered parking spaces that had existed there.

The color-coding of the curb has resulted in confusion for customers and a proliferation of parking tickets, Gianfrancesco and Fernandes said, causing their business to drop by at least 25%.

“I feel that they’re attacking us here,” Fernandes said. She acknowledged that newsstand owners had asked for the yellow loading zone, but only because, she said, they thought they would get a red zone otherwise. The merchants thought customers were legally allowed to park in the yellow zone, but patrons parking in either the red and yellow zones have been ticketed.

On Aug. 23, the problem was discussed at a meeting that included newsstand owners, transportation officials, community leader Jeff Brain and Sharon Mayer, chief field deputy to Councilman Michael Feuer. According to Mayer, transportation officials agreed to remove the yellow paint and return the two metered parking spaces. They also said they would not ticket people who parked in the yellow zone in the meantime.

Brain, chairman of the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Review Board, said that the plan calls for the city to encourage pedestrian-friendly businesses, not make life harder for them. He complained that it has been more than seven weeks since the meeting and nothing has been done.

The complaints have not fallen on deaf ears, however. Mayer said on Friday that she has talked to the transportation department, which said it will return the parking by the end of next week.