Group Opposes Plan to Use Parks Funds for Garage

A newly formed grass-roots community group in Hermosa Beach has collected more than 2,200 signatures to challenge an agreement that the city and county have made to build a multilevel parking structure with funds that voters approved for parks and recreation.

Under the agreement, which must be approved by the Board of Supervisors, the county would continue to provide lifeguard and maintenance services to the city in addition to $4.5 million in funds approved with the passage of Proposition A five years ago. About $1.2 million would be allocated for renovations to the lifeguard station on the city’s ailing pier and a plaza area below the pier. The rest of the money would be used for the parking structure.

The city and county would split the proceeds from the parking lot evenly for 30 years, said City Manager Steve Burrell.

Keep Hermosa Beautiful, a group opposed to the parking structure, contends that the 1992 voter-approved bond initiative was meant for parks and recreation, not parking structures. The organization contends that the city is misusing county funds, giving the county too much control of the city-owned beach community and is providing more parking spaces to businesses than to beach-goers

“It’s clear that they are using this money to subsidize the nighttime bar and restaurant business,” said Harold Cohen, a resident and business owner who belongs to the group. “This money was not intended to subsidize private businesses.”

City officials argue that the funds can be used to increase beach access and that a parking structure would allow more people to come to the small beach city. Councilwoman Julie Oakes said the county has made the funds available for the city to build the parking structure and that the project would serve everyone in the community.

“It seems that there is a lot of misinformation out there,” Oakes said. “We need to understand what the concerns are because this seems to be a good deal for the city and the county.”