Overnight Parking

I have lived in Venice with no parking since l978 and it is getting more frustrating everyday. I expect it to get even worse when they finish the new development at the MTA lot. They claim they will have plenty of parking but at what cost? The clown building at Rose and Main used to charge $85 mo. and went up to $l25 mo.a few years ago. No telling what they're charging now. The public lot by Rose and Main was metered parking on weekends but now the city charges $7.00 day. Maybe people who have parking on their property can easily say, "I don't want Venice to have permit parking", but for homeowners like myself who are land-locked or others who pay good money for an apt. with no parking, we are angry about having to circle 'round and 'round the block (sometimes for over 20 minutes) to get a parking space every night. We must plan our lives carefully, doing errands, etc. during the week because if we leave on a Sat. or Sun, we will never find a spot when we get back because of beach crowds. How are places like West Hollywood able to get permit parking not for themselves (they have parking) but for their friends, while tourists are required to park blocks away from the small theatres in their area? I guess they care more for their tax paying citizens than Venice does where all they seem to care about is to bring in more revenue without regard to the quality of life in our community. A number of years ago I was told there were over l,000 people without parking near the beach in Venice. Why are we not allowed to park on 3rd st. and Hampton Ave. by Gold's Gym from 2am- 6 am to alleviate some of the problem? If people are afraid of RV's parking there and staying, isn't there a law already on the books restricting parking in the same spot for more than 72 hours and when they're moved, they can't be re-parked within a certain radius? If not, let's make such a law. Our fear of the RV parking is preventing at least l00 parking spaces by not being able to park overnight on these two streets.

There is a GRVNC meeting this Thurs., June 22 at the Extra Space Storage, 658 Venice Bld. (President's Row Rm) at 7:00 pm. where we will be trained how to collect signatures from people who are as concerned as we are about overnight parking. I'm planning to attend and hope you are too.