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Published on 09/11/1995 All articles from this issue

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New parking lot a wise city purchase

Complaining about no parking is one thing. Doing something about it is another.

The City of Los Altos took a significant step in addressing the city's downtown parking woes last week when City Council approved the $1.4 million purchase of a First Street property that would accommodate 72 parking spaces.

The lot, located between the Kentucky Fried Chicken building and the Safeway parking lot, provides 20 stalls for the neighboring Neilsen's Cleaners and another 10 reserved for KFC. The remaining 42 stalls are for the general public.

We applaud the decision to purchase the property, as well as the way city staff handled the financing. The $1.4 million price is a fair deal for the three-quarter-acre property. Financing includes a combination of borrowing money, through certificates of participation, and using existing funds in the city's community improvement reserves. Additionally, the city has lease income from the cleaners and KFC.

We see the expenditure as a wise use of public money and the additional parking couldn't come at a better time: the Christmas shopping season will be shortly under way. The new city lot won't solve all the downtown parking problems, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Three hours sounds better than two

Two-hour or three hour parking? That's been a lingering question the past several months as Los Altos city officials at first reduced parking times in the downtown parking plazas from three hours to two. The city is now considering reversing that decision.

We think they should. Beauty salons, in particular, claim their customers need more time. And three-hour public parking is unique among local downtowns. Try finding three-hour parking in downtown Palo Alto. Lengthening the parking time, in our view, sends a message to visitors that shopping is more convenient here.

It's true that plazas are jam-packed at certain times and it could be argued that two-hour stalls allow for more turnover, more customers. But we feel the bigger problem stems from employees who use customer parking.

All of us who work in downtown Los Altos should make a greater effort to clear the way for the visitors. Parallel parking on the side streets is one alternative.

In the meantime, we hope three-hour parking soon returns to downtown Los Altos.