Apartment parking blues

Some of the biggest parking crunches occur in neighborhoods with apartment complexes. As the region's population rises, more people are cramming into the apartments -- and with them come more cars. At the same time, some parking spaces are used for storage (many older apartments have just one space per unit, as opposed two that is now required). But The Register reports that the city of Anaheim is about to embark on a new effort to improve the parking standoff:

Anaheim is trying out a new plan. This month, the City Council is set to consider lifting its four-year-old ban on most new permits, but only after city officials attack the root of the problem – garages being used for storage, illegal fees for parking spots, inoperable cars. "This is a grand experiment," said John Lower, Anaheim's traffic and transportation manager.

You might recall that The Times' Martha Groves recently found that Westside residents (many apartment dwellers) were up in arms because their very precious parking places were being taken up by diners at high-end eateries.

Comments

[Los Angeles Apartments]

Oh boy. I'm moving to Los Angeles in the summer and will probably have to break down and buy a car. Any advice on getting parking in LA?

[Joe Bishop]

Ah parking.

If there are no praking spots left, then maybe there are too many cars.

If our freeways are congested, then maybe there are too many cars.

If there is gridlock at our intersections during commute hours, then maybe there are too many cars.

It seems that our politicians should put more emphasis on finding ways to reduce our use of vehicles. And that should result in reducing the number of vehicles.

Lets face it, the roads and freeways are full of empty seats going the same way. It seems that the "high standard of living" in America translates to the luxury to drive around by yourself with as many empty seats as possible. Other than that, I can't tell the difference between our country and Europe.

Our transportation system is full. It is full because our politicians lack political courage to reduce the number of cars on our roads. Every car represents about $1000 annually in fees and sales taxes to the State and Local governments.

Why has funding for carpool matching systems declined? Why has carpooling gone from 1.2 people per car in 1980 to 1.09 people per car today?

Maybe the government officials should start cleaning their own closets before requiring home owners to clean their garage.