Councilman Bill Sandke withdrew his request for a ballot initiative to measure the public’s interest in taking ownership of Orange Avenue and Third and Fourth Streets. All three are state highways (CA-75 and CA-282) and are controlled by CalTrans.
Because the city doesn’t have jurisdiction, it has to get CalTrans’ permission for almost anything it wants to do. For years people have voiced the idea that asking CalTrans to relinquish those routes to the city would make it easier to solve traffic problems.
Councilman Richard Bailey thought a plebiscite would just politicize an issue that had many unknowns. “I don’t see any harm in asking for more information. I just don’t think an advisory vote is the right mechanism to do that,” he said.
Mayor Tanaka and Councilwoman Carrie Downey also called for more research. “I don’t want to send it to the voter, half baked,” Downey said,
Councilman Mike Woiwode reported that CalTrans was already studying the issue. Instead of holding a plebiscite or commissioning its own study, the council should simply direct its staff have some conversation with CalTrans of what’s going on and how it fits into a larger plan.
He also pointed out that asking CalTrans to relinquish the two state highways wouldn’t necessarily change anything. “It’s not an end unto itself. We’ve accomplished something to say we own the highway. It doesn’t change the highway.”
The council wasn’t alone in its skepticism. Many residents were as well.
“We believe it is a premature initiative,” said Barbara Tato of Avenue of Heroes Neighborhood Association. She suggest that the council first commission a study on the benefits and risks and then hold a series of public workshops to gauge public sentiment.
Valet parking plans revised
After agreeing to a trial valet parking arrangement this summer, the council voted 5-0 to amend the plan to accommodate the owners of the Coronado Plaza.
“I’m very uncomfortable with an owner or a property owner trying to dictate the use of public streets and seeming to hold the trail hostage,” said Eddie Warner, who serves on the MainStreet Board of Directors. “It sets a horrible precedent, in my opinion, of giving away parking spaces so someone can operate a business in the public right away.”
The plan the council approved on May 3 required temporarily replacing the parking meters on B Avenue with a loading zone and the loading zone on Churchill Place with parking meters. The plan fell part when the owners of the Coronado Plaza objected to losing their loading zone, even if it was only temporary.
Because LAZ Parking has a contract with the owners of the plaza it asked the city to keep the Churchill Place loading zone. The company also has the contract to provide valet service for the summer program.
The council made it clear that they agreed with Warner’s concerns. Still it capitulated to the Coronado Plaza owners’ demands, because it wants to move forward with the valet parking plans.
“If we hem and haw more than the few weeks, perhaps months, to figure out if this trial is working, it will have dissipated and gone by,” Mayor Casey Tanaka said,
Councilwoman Carrie Downey also agreed to accede to the owners’ demands, but she stressed that she will fight to replace the loading zone with meters if the valet parking experiment proves successful.
Councilman Richard Bailey said that he supported removing the loading zone, however he noted that if valet parking is successful there will be even more parking spaces available. “One of the benefits of valet parking is that you can stack cars, so instead of 20 additional spots we have 40, so if the valet parking is a success we could trade 20 spots for 40,” he said.
The vote was 4-0 unanimous.
