Memo to Silver Lake

Regarding your parking situation...

Get over yourself.

I say this as a twice-resident (ok, a subletter) of your neighborhood: once up on the northeast side of the reservoir where Glendale Blvd and Silver Lake Blvds intersect, and then on Sunset and Descanso, above Dusty's. I still visit frequently. I'm one of THEM. I'm in ur gelato shop, contaminatin ur peaceful oasis. I'm on ur hillsides, admirin ur Neutras.

I also say this as a non-driver. Look, I know the parking is bad. But as the article says, the neighborhood was not built to accommodate that many cars. If you're a resident and parking is a consistent concern for you, maybe it's time to consider moving somewhere more suburban and car-friendly. How about Glendale? Silver Lake is one of a handful of places in L.A. where it's easy and pleasant to live without a car, and I'd love to see more people taking advantage of that, and more planners working toward cultivating a sense of "walkability" in older neighborhoods.

To visitors: There are many buses you can take to get around tha SL, including the new DASH line. If you're going to Sunset Junction, that's just a short walk from the Red Line Sunset/Vermont station.

Back where I'm from (the evil New York City), many people don't have their own spaces at home, but there are many offsite parking structures/lots where they can pay a monthly fee for a guaranteed spot nearby. Why doesn't Los Angeles have more of these? If the City thinks its draconian development policies about minimum allotments makes these businesses redundant, they're dead wrong. I'm not the keenest advocate of letting markets run things, but hey, if people HAVE to have their parking, why not make these alternatives available and then let car owners pay for it? They're already paying anyway -- as reflected in the price of their home, and there's seldom an opt-out plan for those who don't intend to use the space. With apologies to Don Shoup, the land that car sits on ain't free.

Comments

[Clarence Eckerson Jr.]

Yeah, Donald Shoup rocks the house!

Thanks for posting a link to our video.

FYI: We are trying to rustle up people to start a Streetsblog LA

Best,

Clarence

[Chris Barrus]

Speaking as a driver I'd much rather be confronted with meters than with parking permit neighborhoods that selfishly limit parking regardless of whether a car is there or not.

[Jody]

Clarence, if Streetsblog LA gets off the ground, I'd love to contribute to it. Send me an e-mail at westwardhoblog at gmail dot com and let's keep in touch.