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Los Angeles homeowners who can’t find anyplace to park in their neighborhoods are fueling an increase in preferential parking districts.

A fixture of Westside and Valley suburbs, those neighborhood pockets lined with signs limiting street parking now are expanding into congested urban communities from East Hollywood to Boyle Heights. In the last four years, at least five neighborhoods east of La Brea Avenue have sought or received the city’s blessing to restrict parking to residents with permits during certain hours.

The popularity of the districts increased along with the competition for street parking. A booming econo- my made shopping districts busier. Rising rents forced tenants to double up. Three-car families became more common. And as property values shot up, so did the political savvy of urban homesteaders moving for architectural charm and short commutes but who still wanted a home for their super-sized SUVs.

“At night you take cabs, you walk, you have people pick you up, but you are not giving up your parking space,” said Beachwood Canyon Neighborhood Assn. board member Missy Kelly, who is leading the fight for a new preferential parking district off Franklin Avenue in Hollywood.

City parking has long been at a premium, but battles over the scarce resource escalated when moneyed buyers began to move into such formerly declasse neighborhoods as Hollywood, Silver Lake and Echo Park. The new homeowners carried a sense of entitlement that put them in conflict with newly prosperous commercial property and business owners who had turned sleepy little commercial strips into glitzy restaurant, bar and art gallery districts drawing people from around the city.

For the disabled and elderly, parking is not a luxury, but for other residents, preferential parking meant trade-offs between convenience and a sense of community. Some areas even experienced identity crises. Who does the neighborhood belong to: those who live there or everyone who works, eats, shops or walks the dog there--and pays taxes to keep up the coveted curbside pavement?

One potential benefit of being in a district: higher property values. The advantages are difficult to quantify, but preferential parking provides a comfort zone that could make the difference between sale or no sale in gentrifying neighborhoods, said Prudential California Realty agent Francis Gibbons.

“It takes one negative away,” said Gibbons, who specializes in Silver Lake property.

Preferential parking districts got their start in Europe, then made their American debut in Alexandria, Va., where commuters working in the nation’s capital were testing the patience of residents, said Donald Shoup, chairman of UCLA’s Department of Urban Planning. Suburban workers would pick a handy spot near their train stops to drop their cars, squeezing out residents, who soon rose up in protest.

After a 1977 Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of restricted parking districts, they spread to cities as diverse as Miami; Portland, Ore.; Nashville; and Santa Cruz. In Southern California, Santa Monica, Burbank and Glendale all have residential parking restrictions. UCLA is ringed with permit districts. Sixty percent of street parking in West Hollywood, home of the Sunset Strip, is residents-only at peak hours, said West Hollywood Parking Manager Vit Vittatoe.

“We are a high entertainment district here, and preferential parking gives priority to folks living on residential streets over the restaurants and nightclubs, which have to use parking lots or garages or valet parking,” Vittatoe said.

L.A.’s older neighborhoods are long overdue for preferential parking districts. They were built before planning came into vogue, when the Red Car trolley system still ruled the roads. Apartments and houses abut stores and even small manufacturers.

Some dwellings in Echo Park don’t have any off-street parking, and the garages that exist cannot accommodate today’s automotive behemoths. New restaurants open, a hospital expands and suddenly neighbors find that getting the groceries into the house requires hiking boots.

Preferential parking districts are surprisingly easy to establish, once homeowners learn the ropes. Residents petition the city Department of Transportation; at least 67% of affected homeowners and renters must sign up. A Department of Motor Vehicles check is conducted to determine whether more than 25% of parked cars belong to non-locals. If they do, public hearings are held, but the decision is largely a foregone conclusion. Districts are almost always approved; usually within a year or so.

Boundaries and hours are negotiable. Once a district is approved, the transportation department posts signs proclaiming the restricted hours.

Residents buy yearly passes, at $15 each. Two $10 guest passes per household are also available.

Just because they come easy doesn’t mean that establishing preferential parking districts is all smooth sailing. In bohemian Silver Lake, with its mix of would-be rock stars, Latino immigrants and gay business people, a parking district application caused a flap. At the center of it was Spaceland, a nightclub hosting such edgy acts as the Chemical Brothers and the Negro Problem, which helped define the area as hip. Business boomed on the sleepy little Silver Lake commercial strip, and housing prices shot up. But when homeowners saw the garbage, noise and public behavior that came with the notoriety, they were not pleased.

Realtor Shyrl Lorino, who lives in the proposed district, didn’t back the original petition but now thinks preferential parking is a good idea.

“When Spaceland got really, really popular, people were driving in from all over the place, which is fabulous. But on the other hand it’s very frustrating for residents to come home from a hard day’s work and not be able to find parking,” she said.

The Los Angeles City Council Transportation Committee has tentatively green-lighted the district.

Night life was also the issue at Franklin Avenue near Canyon Avenue, in the Beachwood area. In the go-go ‘90s, the neighborhood’s block-long stand of stores changed from a shoe repair shop and a psychic parlor to restaurants, which then added evening entertainment. Residents rebelled; their petition is expected to be approved soon.

At Runyon Canyon in Hollywood, the issue was canine overcrowding.

The park north of Franklin Avenue has one of the few off-leash hiking trails for dogs in the city. Near sunset, particularly on the weekends, the canyon’s lower reaches look like a giant moving kennel. With all the dog lovers pouring in, nearby apartment dwellers couldn’t find a place to park.

Parkland was also the focus of an emergency preferential parking district approved in Echo Park last year. The district was approved after reports from the Los Angeles Police Department about gang members parking along Park Drive on the edge of Elysian Park, a large expanse of hiking trails, a playground, picnic areas and lawns and trees.

Boyle Heights residents sought a parking district after the El Mercado de Los Angeles marketplace set up vendor booths in its parking lot.

One of the most innovative parking districts was announced earlier this year as part of a billion-dollar hotel and entertainment development planned around Staples Center. Developers agreed to concessions for low-income residents, including a residential parking permit program, subsidized for five years. The program will reserve street parking for residents, who had complained that the stadium brought costly parking tickets, loud noise and trash.

There are downsides to living in a preferential parking district--residents can’t have hordes of guests dropping by without planning ahead and a permit doesn’t guarantee a nearby parking space will always be available--but the drawbacks are far outweighed by the benefits, participants say. Once they’re in, almost nobody tries to get out.

But as preferential parking expands throughout the city, there are new questions. Will L.A. turn into another New York, with virtually no free street parking in commercial districts, and a parking lot shortage and strained public transportation system to boot?

“It’s changing the character of the neighborhood so it’s more like Brentwood,” said Sandra Ross, a longtime Silver Lake resident and parking district opponent. “We’re all angry at the giant SUVs barreling down the middle of road who won’t give way--yuppies drinking cappuccinos and talking on their cell phones. What’s next, a gated community here?”

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Gale Holland is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.

*** UNPUBLISHED NOTE ***

This story originally published Dec. 9, 2001 with a caption that incorrectly represented Sandra Ross; the caption has been removed at the request of Ms. Ross. The published correction is attached to this story.

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