Parking Spot-Check

Lately, commuters at the North Hollywood subway station have been circling like sharks.

Their prey: the elusive parking space.

Since the Red Line subway station opened at the end of June, completing Los Angeles’ $4.7-billion system, parking has become a precious commodity at the North Hollywood station. At peak hours, the lot is frequently full, forcing many frustrated motorists to head for the exits.

“I know a lot of people are complaining about it,” said Javier Partida, 44, a waiter at a downtown Los Angeles restaurant who cuts his commute in half by riding the subway. “This happens every single day. It’s horrible.”

On Monday, Partida, of Burbank, lucked out and found a coveted spot. But several days a week he’s forced to park his 1994 black Volkswagen Jetta on the street. “Sometimes I am worried that I will come back and my car radio will be gone, or my car altogether will be gone,” he said.

A three-day survey early this month by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority found that both the North Hollywood and Universal City lots were 90% to completely full from 8 a.m. until noon. As of mid-July, the last figures available, average daily boardings and arrivals amounted to 15,902.

But in Los Angeles, where life so frequently revolves around the automobile, transit officials say they see a silver lining in the parking mess: It’s a golden opportunity to blast automobile commuters out from behind the wheel.

Though several dusty, empty publicly owned parcels slated for other use surround the North Hollywood station, MTA officials say they oppose paving them over for parking, even temporarily.

The MTA doesn’t want the subway to be a draw for more autos. The goal of the project is to get motorists out of their cars, they say.

“Long range, there is a philosophical issue that has to be answered,” said Tom Conner, MTA executive officer for transit operations. “Will this become a parking lot at the end of the subway? We don’t want to bring a lot more cars into the area.”

A crucial goal, said MTA board member and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, is “not to encourage people to use their cars to get to the subway.”

Yaroslavsky said he is aware that motorists are frustrated, but once a lot is paved over temporarily, people expect it to remain that way. The next six months, he said, offer an opportunity to change the way people commute, and limiting parking can encourage subway riders to find alternate ways to get to the station.

One quick fix being considered by the MTA--and one that won’t encroach on more land--is a re-striping of both existing lots, which would add 10% more spots. More bike racks and lockers would also be added.

The empty lots around the station are spoken for, officials said, with several earmarked for redevelopment projects. Converting them to temporary parking, officials say, may not be cost-effective.

Ironically, when first planning the subway, the transit agency had proposed substantially more parking.

As far back as 1983, transit planners wanted 1,180 spots at the North Hollywood station, but that many cars would not fit on the 11.5-acre parcel. The final lot has 847 spots, including 147 Kiss ‘N’ Ride spaces, that are supposed to be used for passenger drop-off or pickup only.

Nearby, two MTA-owned lots and two other parcels owned by the Community Redevelopment Agency and developer J. Allen Radford’s Jarco firm, are scheduled for several projects, officials said.

One 2.6-acre MTA parcel is directly across from the station, on the west side of Lankershim Boulevard. Just southeast is a 1.8-acre MTA parcel, the site of one building, a historic rail station.

Eventually, the existing parking lot, which also features a bus plaza, will be revamped for a multistory parking facility, said Jim de la Loza, MTA executive officer of planning and programming. But before that project can move forward, the agency is waiting for the CRA’s plans to jell.

The CRA is cautious about loaning its two partially empty parcels for temporary parking. Both are jointly held with private owners, including Radford’s Jarco.

Just south of the station, on the east side of Lankershim, is a 1.2-acre parcel. And to the east of that land is a two-acre property that includes a city Department of Transportation parking lot.

Lillian Burkenheim, the redevelopment agency’s North Hollywood project manager, said she will meet with the MTA this week to discuss the idea of using the lots temporarily for parking.

But transit advocate Bart Reed wonders why the MTA doesn’t look at other options, including temporary use of rail rights of way.

“The MTA owns a stretch of land to the west of the station that goes for three or four miles, the Chandler [Boulevard] right of way,” said Reed, of the East West Transit Coalition. “Even if they have temporary parking with inexpensive paving, they could put in 200 spaces from Colfax [Avenue] to the train station.”

Some commuters are making do.

Jimmie Livingston, 21, said he wonders why folks don’t carpool to the lot, instead of driving alone.

Livingston drove with a friend to the station Monday morning, and has come to rely on the subway for both work and play.

“People are never happy. They are always going to complain about something,” he observed. “I see a lot of people who drive alone.”