San Pedro Merchants target parking fee hike

Recall Hahahan !!!! Where are the petitions located...I will sign one

Yea, that is what did. The raising of .75 per hour made people not want to shop in downtown Pedro. It is not the fact that there is nothing worth buying there. Just what we all need a pirate flag with Pedro written on it. After every idiot buys one then the demand is gone and you call yourself a genius

I haven't been downtown to shop or eat since the parking rate increase, and my wife and I used to be regulars. I'm sorry for the businesses, but I continue to protest the parking fee increase and change in meter operating hours by voting with my wallet. I applaud Scott Gray and his efforts. The City Council needed a wake-up call, and I hope this is it.

I love Janice Hahn’s misleading response/explanation/lies about the higher parking fees in downtown San Pedro. First she said she did not vote for it (lie), then she said it was the mayor's plan and out of her hands (lie), finally it was necessary to keeps cops on the streets (lie). Is there a 3 strikes law for lying?

This city council has mismanaged our city into a $400,000,000 deficit that continues to rise. Their answer to their own fiscal irresponsibility is increased taxes and fees; none more eager to add taxes and fees than Janice Hahn who the Howard Jarvis Institute said “never meet a tax increase she did not like.” What about proper management? Has the councilwoman’s stopped using her city placards to park for free. The answer is NO.

Janice Hahn wants us to believe that the additional parking revenue will provide stability to our Harbor Division saying “Every time you put those additional quarters in the meter, think of a Harbor Division officer and how you are helping him or her to remain on the job.” Sound good but of course it is not true. It is even funnier coming from Hahn has allowed 30+ officers to be reassigned out of Harbor Division in the last 4 years. This is the biggest decrease of our local police force in history. We can put enough quarters in the meters to account for the police reductions allowed by Hahn or the effects THAT has had on our community.

Maybe if the merchants and their emplyees stopped taking up all the metered parking spaces there wouldn't be the need for a rate increase. It's called "supply and demand".

In a written statement, Hahn said she supports merchant efforts to lower the meter rates (Then WHY DID SHE VOTE FOR IT? JUST ANOTHER LIE!) and is working with the city's Department of Transportation to provide two weeks of free holiday parking in the downtown this year.(BIG DEAL. WE DO NOT WANT TO BE TOSSED A BONE; WE WANT PERMANENT ACTION THE WILL BE A BENEFIT TO DOWNTOWN MERCHANTS AND VISITORS.)

HAHN KNEW THE IMPACT ON DOWNTOWN BUT IT WAS MORE IMPORTANT TO BE LOYAL TO THE MAYOR THEN HER OWN DISTRICT. SHE COULD STOP IT TODAY IF SHE HAD THE BACKBONE TO TAKE ON THE MAYOR AND WAS MORE CONCERNED WITH HER CONSTITUENTS THEN HERSELF AND HER OWN POLITICAL FUTURE OUTSIDE HER THE HARBOR AREA.

HAHN NEVER PUBLICLY OBJECTED ONCE TO THE INCREASE BEFORE THE VOTE, SHE DEFENDED IT SAYING "WE HAVE NOT HAD INCREASE IN OVER 15 YEARS" AND "NOWHERE ELSE IN THE CITY EXCEPT SAN PEDRO ARE PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT INCREASED PARKING FEES" SHE IGNORED THE WARNINGS FROM THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND DOWNTOWN MERCHANTS AND NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS.

PLEASE MS. HAHN STOP LYING AND START DOING SOMETHING POSITIVE FOR OUR COMMUNITY!

WE HAVE A PARKING PETITION.....LET'S START A RECALL PETITION

City Hall does not care about petitions. They care about friendly lobbyist who indirectly line their pockets.

I am happy that after all these years, you all are beginning to see and understand the REAL, "Soundbite Janice"...AKA "Lame Duck Janice"...she'll pull the old, "Gee, my hands are tied, I tried" garbage next...I've advocated recalling her BEFORE her re-election...make a difference...GET RID OF HER!!!

Well, folks, what is glaringly absent from the article is any mention for raising the rates in the first place. If the data shows a decline in consumer traffic, the revelation should also show a less than hoped for increase in parking fee revenue. Those fees are only designed to help the costs of providing the parking to pay for itself, not to be a cash cow for the city's deficit.

The issue is twofold - obviously, the impact on business, but also the negative impact on the marginal increase (or decrease) in fee revenue.

Hahn supports their efforts? Give it an hour and she will support the rate hikes! Wait.....now she supports the merchants! More BS from our elected officials.

Uh-huh, coincidence is causation. Nevermind the economy tanking and downtown San Pedro being, frankly, a dump.

It must be the meters!!

75 cents an hour is what your collective panties are in a wad over?

Turn over your couch cushion, there's a couple hours worth.

How much money is one really going to spend in Pedro if they're up in arms over 75 cents?

Save SP wrote:

City Hall does not care about petitions. They care about friendly lobbyist who indirectly line their pockets.

Since there are "lobbyists" to raise meter rates? Never met one of those.

BREEZE-
Thanks for the article, I DID NOT know of the rate increase - did like to walk some of the stores & quite fond of 3 restaurants. All of which I will avoid now due to 4-fold increase in the meters.

Bob Hastings wrote:

Uh-huh, coincidence is causation. Nevermind the economy tanking and downtown San Pedro being, frankly, a dump.
It must be the meters!!
75 cents an hour is what your collective panties are in a wad over?
Turn over your couch cushion, there's a couple hours worth.
How much money is one really going to spend in Pedro if they're up in arms over 75 cents?

Good grief, you're just as corny in real life as you were in character on McHale's Navy.

Take the meters OUT, its the enconmy dummy !!!!!!! With that said have a great day in San Pedro, I will !!!!!!!!!

"did like to walk some of the stores & quite fond of 3 restaurants. All of which I will avoid now due to 4-fold increase in the meters."

You don't have to pay anything to walk....that's kind of the point.

Here's a better idea. We should make it like an awesome suburban mall. Every individual store is required to provide their own parking. A restaurant? You'll need to build about 12 off-street spaces. Of course you can't charge for them -- sorry, they'll have to be out of your own pocket.

The plus side is, your customers will always have free parking! It will also be really fun to walk around through a couple dozen empty parking lots from one store to the next.

Look, everyone wins! The merchants and customers will love this!

aren't politicians the greatest? they don't have a clue about what it takes to run a business. tax tax tax is all they know and all they think about.

Wow wrote:

aren't politicians the greatest? they don't have a clue about what it takes to run a business. tax tax tax is all they know and all they think about.

Actually, it is a parking fee for the business/property owners who don't want to spend their own money for off-street parking. Cheap parking for the business owner who would have to provide for parking otherwise.

The Whale and Ale and Niko's have off street parking.

The San Pedro Brewing Company is worth paying for parking in my opinion.

Rafaello's also has off street parking.

Actually there are a number of good restaurants that are worthy of having customers pay for parking.

Perhaps arrangements can be made to offer free parking on First Thursdays and during the weekend when the galleries are open as well as many stores.

Maybe one of the lots could be paid for by a group of business owners who then offer free parking to clients who get their tickets stamped.

As long as the downtown area can't find true revitalization, then many folks simply won't shop for goods down there.

Another draw would be a large Supermarket that I feel is badly needed in the area between 7th and 8th streets and between Centre and Palos Verdes.

Downtown could eventually become so populated when all the condos are rented or sold that, along with the folks who already live in the area, there will be a great need for more local shopping at a large Supermarket.

Supermarkets aslo draw other businesses like cleaners, hair salons, and other stores that may also be needed in that area of San Pedro.

If downtown comes back, customers will come back, too.

Its bad enough that for years merchants have been trying to keep local shoppers in town, especially during the holidays, Now they want to raise the cost of parking, this is highway robbery especially with this bad economy and everyone is trying to save a dollar for a rainy day. Some one in the higher office is not doing their job and the little people are the ones who suffer..

Teresa Ackenback-Medina
former San Pedro Resident,
Maui. HI.