Creativity will ease parking troubles

Parking has again become a hot issue in Laguna Beach -- and the

sizzling summer season is still months away.

Those who live, shop and work in the Downtown area are constantly

struggling to find convenient, inexpensive and long-term parking

spots.

The city has made efforts to accommodate residents, shoppers and

employees with parking passes allowing holders to park at designated

spots without feeding parking meters.

But the lack of sufficient parking is evident from the fact that

the city restricts employee parking passes to 150 annually -- with

the caveat that there are only 70 to 115 spaces available.

For local businesses to thrive, customers and employees must be

able to find spots for their cars, without driving residents out of

their neighborhood spaces.

In other cities, residents fed up with “outsiders” parking on

their streets have fought back with preferential parking districts

that place strict limits on public parking in residential areas.

We hope Laguna Beach, with its traditional openness to the world

at large, does not end up going down that road.

Luckily, city officials and Downtown residents are on the right

track by starting now to plan for more parking availability in the

future, possibly by building parking structures.

We’ll be watching this issue closely in the coming year and trust

that creative ideas will bear fruit.