The City's Latest Assault on Hollywoodland: A Plan to Eliminate Half Our Street Parking
An Alternative Sign/Courtesy Eugene Gordon
When I'm driving on Beachwood Drive, impeded by stopped tour vans and tourists posing for photos in the middle of the street, I sometimes wonder if Hollywoodland's many visitors ever think about their impact on those of us who live here. I doubt it: if they did, matters wouldn't have escalated into the crisis we now find ourselves mired in. A thousand visitors' cars per day have caused gridlock, trapped us our houses and prevented us from getting home. There have been hostile arguments, car accidents and untended medical emergencies. And at the end of the day, we residents are left to clean up the detritus of our neighborhood's wild, toll-free tourism: cigarettes and matches in a wildfire area; beer cans and liquor bottles, bottles of urine, bags of excrement and used condoms.
In any other place, a City Council Representative would represent his constituents' interests, not those of tourists. Unfortunately, our representative is Tom LaBonge, whose determination to be Mr. Hollywood has pitted him against the very people who pay his salary--us. His latest salvo, harebrained even by the standards of his record, is to eliminate street parking on the east side of Beachwood Drive in Hollywoodland during the day, the better to accommodate throngs of tourists who hike to the Hollywood Sign.
Never mind that 100% of polled residents oppose the plan. LaBonge is determined to restrict the mile-long stretch between Beachwood Village and the northern end of Beachwood Drive, making it illegal to park outside our houses from 8am to 6pm, seven days a week. No word on where all the residents' cars will go, to say nothing of moving trucks and service vehicles. I happen to live on the east side of Beachwood Drive and although I park in my one-car garage, I have friends, family and repair people who need a place to park when they visit. Where are they supposed to go when the west side of the street will be filled with residents' cars? I guess we'll find out; there's a meeting on the matter at City Hall this Wednesday. For those wishing to attend, the details are:
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014 2:00 PM ROOM 1010 CITY HALL 200 N SPRING STREET
Correction: Originally the article stated that parking on Beachwood would be restricted 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I regret that I was misinformed and have made the necessary corrections.