Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorial

Short-term parking solutions are needed

The best thing to come out of last week's council meeting was the decision to put short- and long-term parking solutions on the agenda for an upcoming meeting. The town currently is looking into building a parking garage, but at best, the structure is several years away.

Last week, councilmembers approved a mixed-use office and residential building proposed by Sue Farwell, even though it will mean the elimination of 36 spaces (even more when valet parking is considered) behind what is probably the busiest restaurant in a town full of popular restaurants.

Farwell owns the property and some of the parking spaces; she's also paid for 29 spaces in the town's parking assessment district. It was hard to deny her the right to build.

On the other hand, when one buys into the parking assessment district, what one purchases is a little less concrete than an actual parking space.

The Downtown Parking Improvement Plan is a formula. It's a noble attempt to ensure that those who benefit from downtown parking pay their fair share to have the parking available.

To literally require one paid space to represent one concrete parking space makes no sense since any one space is likely to have multiple uses during the day, while others may sit vacant.

We have no criticism of the concept of a formula or of a parking assessment district. But we can't help but wonder if it isn't time to revisit the formula.

The formula is what engineering consultants refer to when determining whether construction of a new building will have an impact on traffic and parking.

What outside consultants don't know that insiders do know--and will sometimes say, but seldom on the record--is that those spaces aren't real; they're "phantom" spaces.

On May 4, the decision to permit Eastfield Ming Quong to lease Village House restaurant to new owners and turn an essentially daytime operation into a nighttime operation is being challenged. What's at the heart of the appeal? Parking. Real and phantom. Village House paid into the parking assessment district long ago, but everyone knows ...

At last week's meeting, downtown businessman Larry Arzie, speaking from the audience, said, "The town isn't responsible for the viability of Willow Street Pizza."

That's literally true. But we'd hate to think the town is so shortsighted that it would ignore the importance of retaining good businesses in its downtown area.

Let's hope that when councilmembers begin to wrestle with parking, especially short-term solutions, they will put all the cards on the table--including phantom parking spaces. It's not fair to give credit to some people for paying into the parking district and then dismiss others because what they paid for are phantom spaces.

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