I used to live in Alamitos Beach. Great neighborhood and great people. However, to say that parking was a nightmare would be a massive understatement. Poor city planning decades ago has left the area with far too little parking. What you have is a situation where residents often look for parking for over 30 minutes, or walk at night for blocks to get home, or just take their chances and park in front of a red curb.
Well….Councilmember Suja Lowenthal at a press conference yesterday announced that she was well on her way of delivering one of her campaign promises- more parking spaces. Residents will now be able to access over 760 new parking spaces and more than 150 currently available but unused parking spaces in the Second District. Wow.
Residents can now park in a number of new locations at night including the Long Beach Art Museum, the parking lot at the NW corner of Ocean and Alamitos, and the Cafe Ambrosia lot on Broadway. While certainly most of the credit goes to Councilmember Lowenthal, one must recognize the hard work of the Councilmember’s hard-working staff….especially Chief of Staff Broc Coward. The Councilmember is lucky to have him.
Here’s a statement from Councilmember Lowenthal-
“I’ve received many calls and emails championing the focused attention that this issue deserves,” said Lowenthal. “I see this parking initiative as a work in progress. If we focus on attaining any particular number of spaces, we limit ourselves to that number. Instead, this plan continuously works with the city’s fluctuating density and development. These measures should continue long after my own tenure.”
Her announcement comes after months of working with City Staff, residents and private partners. There are over 200 residents already on the waiting list for 26 permitted spaces at the Shoreline Gateway parking lot just one week after the City announced the new spaces.
This is also on top of new street-sweeping times to alleviate parking pains on Broadway and 4th, as well as a plan for new bike racks.
The Councilmember calls this announcement phase one of her plan….man I can’t wait for phase two.