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By Lookout Staff
May 10 -- An experimental employee parking program
that could be a citywide model will continue, the Santa Monica
City Council decided Tuesday.
Under the program, 20 employee parking placards selected by
lottery were passed out in March of 2006. The placards allow
workers to park within a six-block radius between Pico Boulevard
and Bay Street and 11th Street and Lincoln Boulevard.
"There has been a great deal of outreach and we heard
few complaints," Planning Director Eileen Fogarty told
the council. "The program has been successful, as far
as we can tell."
Yet there are some tweaks council members requested as the
program moves forward.
In addition to making sure placards are not duplicated --
a recent problem corrected by removing placards from employees
who copied the passes and issuing fines -- council members
asked that further enforcement be carried out to ensure employees
do not park in the area after 6 p.m.
Another suggestion is to change the lottery system to ensure
passes are fairly distributed among businesses. Currently
the most one business can receive is 20.
It was also suggested that the program be expanded to include
as many more spaces as possible.
A firm that designed Santa Monica's new 800 space parking
structure was one of a handful businesses that lobbied City
officials for the changes.
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