By Sarah Lombardo
A Village-wide valet parking system could be around the corner for Saratoga, said Larry Perlin, public works director and acting city manager.
Perlin met last Friday with officials from Corinthian International Parking Services to discuss the results of a three-month trial of Village valet parking that ended last month.
Perlin said he was encouraged by the trial run.
"I think that Corinthian is interested in continuing it," Perlin said. "I think that, for the most part, the restaurants would like to see it stay, and the Saratoga Business Development Council would support it."
The experiment began in December, offering valet parking to shoppers and restaurant-goers visiting the Village for a flat fee of $5 per car. The service was to be offered Monday through Saturday nights from a space in front of Bella Saratoga that was reserved as a loading zone.
The original plan called for cars to be parked by attendants at the Saratoga Elementary School parking lot and playground on Oak Street, but Michael Petteruti, area manager for C.I.P.S., said the city asked the company to use city-owned spaces in a parking area behind a gas station on the corner of Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road and Big Basin Way instead.
"We were asked at the last minute not to park [at the school], for whatever reason," Petteruti said, adding that he had not been informed himself of the reasons for the change in plan, but hoped that the company could use the school's lot if a permanent system is worked out.
"That would be our long-term goal. . . . It would be nice to have guaranteed parking," he said. "And we would keep up the area."
Petteruti said he thought the trial period went well, with the company parking as many as 30 cars for visitors to the area.
"We are probably really seeing what we expected, which is a slow beginning and a kind of trickle-up effect," he said. "It's something that will develop with more people getting familiar with it."
Perlin said although he was encouraged by the experiment, a plan for a permanent valet service for the entire Village would have to address certain concerns, such as identifying an appropriate loading zone that was visitor-friendly and making sure self-parkers weren't penalized for not using the valet service.
"So you have to weigh the residents' and the merchants' side," Perlin said.
Some residents have apparently not felt their side was being addressed: Perlin and several City Council members said they have received a few letters from residents complaining about attendants parking where they shouldn't.
Petteruti said, though, that it may be a case of mistaken identity.
Petteruti said he cannot say that his company's attendants have never parked where they shouldn't. "I'm not cutting out my portion of the blame," he said. "If there is any street parking going on, now that I have heard this, I will put the word out that none of it should be going on."
The Saratoga Business Development Council is expected to discuss the issue of valet parking and the results of the trial run later this month.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, March 12, 1997.
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