PPCC Poses Community Parking Concerns to Caruso

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

As the dust settles from the grand opening of Palisades Village and business falls into a routine, residents of the Alphabet Streets have growing concerns about parking issues taking over their streets.

The Pacific Palisades Community Council Executive Committee, including Chair George Wolfberg, Vice Chair Peter Culhane, Treasurer Richard Cohen and Secretary Chris Spitz, highlighted these issues in a letter sent to Rick Caruso, City Councilmember Mike Bonin, Vice President of Development Michael Gazzano and Senior Vice President of Community Relations Rick Lemmo via email.

“As you may know, shortly after the opening, our Village Project Community Liaison team advised your Vice President Michael Gazzano of several concerns brought to us by community members, including complaints involving employee and customer parking on nearby streets and the [Palisades Village] self-parking/validation policy,” the letter stated.

Gazzano provided initial information in response, according to the letter, stressing that since operations had just begun on Sept. 22, the Caruso team would continue to assess these issues and inform the council of plans to address neighbors’ concerns.

“We have observed that the problems have not abated and seem to be growing,” the letter continued, pointing out that even with signs placed by Caruso in nearby residential parkways, residents report that employees continue to park on neighboring streets—despite the initial agreement that employees would be required to park in the Palisades Village structure, which would be available free of charge.

“Some tenant employees claim that they are required to pay all or a significant portion of the ‘per stall’ fee, and that they are unable financially to bear this cost,” the letter stated.

Another point of contention that the letter brings up is the issue of parking validation.

“The validation policy as set forth on the [Palisades Village] website is unclear or wrong: It states that validation will be provided for two hours, with a $1 charge per half hour thereafter,” according to the letter. “However, no validations are being provided for two hours and all extended stays are charged at $2 per half hour, not $1. This policy should be restated/reformulated or clarified.”

The Executive Committee members suggested that offering longer complimentary parking—without validation—may be costly to Caruso, but would be of “great benefit to the community,” luring visitors to park in the garage instead of on residential streets.

PPCC Area 5 Representative Sue Kohl is also working on getting permitted parking in place for residents in areas of the Alphabet Streets—a process she said that the Caruso team was helpful in facilitating.

Representatives from Caruso did not respond to the Post’s questions about the parking issues that have been raised, but said that all of PPCC’s concerns would be addressed at the Thursday, Oct. 11, board meeting.