From ‘Free’ to ‘Fee,’ the Meter Expires on a Tradition

As visitors to Oxnard gaze out upon the cityscape of this Ventura County metropolis, they are at once baffled and dazzled by one remarkable urban anomaly: Nowhere on any of the streets can be seen even one parking meter.

Even more remarkable, Oxnard has thrived for years without paid parking. No barricaded lots that charge, no gated parking structures. In short, Oxnard has been one of the last bastions of free parking in the civilized world. Free parking in Oxnard has always been a God-given right, along with breathing, complaining and the pursuit of happiness.

Alas, no more.

The barbarians have not only breached the gates but have taken over and are charging fees.

Residents attending a reception for visiting dignitaries of the Urban Land Institute recently were aghast to learn that the Embassy Suites hotel, which used to be the pretty decent Mandalay Beach hotel, had broken the stranglehold of the long-entrenched Oxnard free parkers--an elite group of just about everybody.

Those attending the reception were jolted to learn that Oxnard had been infiltrated by the fee parkers. The convenient parking lot fronting the hotel has been marked off exclusively for valet parking. It is distinguished chiefly by being devoid of cars. If you seek to avoid greasing the upturned palm of the fellow who appears from nowhere when you have already parked in the hallowed zone, you are directed to hide your unsightly rattletrap in the bowels of the hotel’s underground parking structure. Well, you think, at least that’s still free.

But alas, no. Passage into the structure is barred by an affable but insistent young man who demands $3.

It is utterly befuddling to try to deduce the reasons for this blatant dishonoring of a fine old Oxnard tradition. There are no other commercial establishments in the vicinity, no pizza parlor, no liquor store whose patrons would abuse the Embassy Suites lot.

The only possible explanation is that the hotel management seeks to keep out riffraff like myself. The hotel used to put on a great Sunday brunch. I had been planning to attend the auctions that are frequently staged there. I had intended to recommend the hotel to some out-of-town guests.

I had been considering renting a banquet room and having the hotel cater a reception for my new grandson. But I cannot expose his tender mind to the idea that he has been born into a world where free parking has gone the way of the dinosaur, the mammoth, the dodo . . . well, maybe the dodo has made a comeback.