Council Has to Curb Plan to Erase Deficit With New Parking Meters

The proposal to cover a projected $600,000 budget deficit in West Hollywood was simple: With new parking meters and extended nighttime meter hours along one of the city’s main commercial boulevards, the gap could be filled quarter by quarter.

Or so city officials hoped.

But the plan hit a few snags this week. Police issued citations even before the new hours went into effect. Some business owners complained that the move would limit employee parking.

And businesspeople asked: Did the city really expect someone watching a play at the Lee Strasberg Institute or dining at a restaurant to run out every hour to feed the meter?

“That would be a disaster, which is not what we intended,” said Mayor Paul Koretz.

The council in August approved the proposal as part of the 1996-97 budget. But after discussing the issue at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, council members directed city staff members to curtail the plan’s scope.

For now, parking will be free after 6 p.m. at meters that are being installed on the east side of Santa Monica Boulevard. Plans to extend meter hours to 10 p.m. in other areas of the city are on hold.

The reconfigured proposal will only raise $90,000 a year, said City Manager Paul Brotzman. The council will discuss the parking plan again at its Sept. 16 meeting.

“I think the reaction was probably stronger than the council expected,” Brotzman said.

But council members said they were surprised by the speed and manner in which city staff members moved to put the new parking meter plan in place. Some council members said they assumed there would be public hearings or at least notification.

“This all should have been discussed many, many times,” said Mayor Pro Tem Sal Guarriello. “I don’t know why they were jumping the gun on this all the way down the line.”

Koretz said that in the future the City Council must act more aggressively to ensure public discussion of the city’s plans.

“I don’t think any of us knew this [parking meter plan] would be implemented without much warning or public hearing,” Koretz said. “We approved it as a concept and expected it to go forward. I don’t know that I expected it to just be done.”