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East Palo Alto residents pushed back against a prospective residential parking permit program, criticizing the lack of enforcement of current parking laws, during a city input session on Nov. 12
In an attempt to address vehicle overcrowding on East Palo Alto’s streets, the residential parking permit ordinance, currently in draft form, would implement a set of guidelines for City Council members to follow to create parking restrictions in some East Palo Alto neighborhoods. The ordinance would not implement any new laws, but rather create an avenue for residents to apply for assistance.
The draft ordinance, which is still garnering feedback, suggests all residencies be allowed one free street parking permit. Residents would have to pay $100 to $200 annually for additional street parking permits, according to Vice President of Hexagon Transportation Consultants Michelle Hunt, who is helping the city create the draft ordinance.
It’s intended to “equitably allocate on-street parking spaces among different neighborhood residents,” Hunt said, especially in areas where on-street parking is at least 75% full, like the Gardens and other neighborhoods where residents have long complained about overcrowding.
In nearby cities, San Mateo regulates on-street parking where it is at least 60% full and San Jose uses a threshold of 85%.
Residents would be able to apply for a parking permit program in their neighborhood by submitting an application, determining the regulations with city employees – days, hours, time limits and geographic area – and collecting signatures from the majority of their neighbors in the proposed area.
The city would then collect parking data in the area, take resident surveys, host Public Works and Transportation Committee and City Council meetings to modify or adopt the resolution and send notices to residents.
City Council members would also be able to apply for a permit program in any given neighborhood, where they would follow the same steps, except for gathering signatures.
Permits would not reserve parking spaces and only be issued for passenger vehicles. The maximum number of cars per residency would be determined by local household sizes but could vary from one to four.
Private service personnel who regularly visit homes like care givers or babysitters could be eligible for permits, too. Every household would receive 20 single-day visitor permits per year – parking exceptions would be made for vehicles with handicap placards, government or emergency vehicles and anyone actively doing work like plumbers or delivery drivers.
Continuing current laws, leaving a vehicle in the same spot for over 72 hours would not be allowed and privately owned commercial vehicles would be prohibited in residential streets for more than an hour, if not in use.
According to a study, the city would generate $32,000 to $65,000 per year from permits while the total cost to operate the system would be about $237,600 annually, including the pay for a program administrator, enforcement officer, enforcement vehicle and virtual parking system, Hunt said.
To cover the funding gap, community members have suggested that residents receive no free on-street parking permits to cover more of the potential operational costs, Hunt said, but citation fees could help cover the costs as well. The city could also partner with local businesses or churches to use their parking lots during non-operational hours, she said.
According to Hunt, the city sent out mailers, newsletters and posted about the potential parking permit program on Facebook to garner feedback, but a city-conducted survey only received 132 responses.
The Palo Alto Park neighborhood submitted the most responses at 29, University Village with 26 and the Gardens at 18, but remaining areas didn’t interact with the survey as much. According to the survey results, over 60% of responding households were in favor of a permit program, but the majority of some neighborhoods like University Square and University City were found not in favor.
At the input meeting, East Palo Alto residents criticized the low interaction on the survey.
“Where’s the public outreach? Because it didn’t reach me,” said East Palo Alto resident David Arrellin. He then asked the crowd of around 50 people to raise their hands if they participated in the survey – many did not.
Residents echoed his concern, and complained about overcrowded streets but asked the city to focus on enforcing current parking laws regarding abandoned cars and large commercial vehicles rather than implementing new programs.
There are about eight abandoned or broken down cars where East Palo Alto resident Carlotta Cavillo lives, she said in Spanish, and nothing gets done, even after she calls them in.
Other residents like Eric Perez voiced cost concerns for low-income residents and those families who live in garages due to the cost of housing in the region.
“I don’t think it makes sense to have people pay for a system that won’t actually end up freeing up parking, especially when we think about how many of us in the city are already living paycheck to paycheck,” Perez said.
Speakers also called out Menlo Park and Palo Alto residents, who sometimes may park their cars in East Palo Alto to avoid their own city’s parking restrictions.
A few others were in favor of the program as they struggle to exit their driveways, accommodate guests and leave their garbage bins out on trash day. And incoming City Council members Webster Lincoln and Mark Dinan were in favor of implementing parking restrictions.
In response to outreach concerns, Vice Mayor Martha Barragan asked that the city distribute more physical input forms at local community centers and for people who don’t have access to technology.
She and other council members also highlighted the East Palo Alto police department’s role in enforcing current parking restrictions and urged the community to report abandoned or unfamiliar vehicles.
But Chief of Police Jeff Liu. said the department’s three full time community service officers in East Palo Alto handle missing person reports and registered sex offender lists in addition to their parking enforcement duties.
“They can’t be everywhere at one time, so they get to what they can,” he said at the meeting. “Of course we could always do better but we need the community’s help with that,”
Residents can call (650) 853-5940 or email parkingenforcemnent@cityofepa.org to report vehicles parked illegally.
Council member Ruben Abrica was in favor of further enforcing current laws, especially when it comes to residents blocking and reserving street parking, he said, but hopes to pass the new ordinance to facilitate conversation.
The ordinance will not implement new laws, he said, but allow residents to apply for help when they need it.
“We need to try something,” he said, even if it means piloting the program with no cost to applicants to test its efficacy.
The city of East Palo Alto plans to conduct another study to determine what fees to charge residents and plans to continue to discuss the ordinance to bring it back to the public in the future.
