City Council Reverses Course on Parking Garage Plan

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to no longer pursue Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to lease nine of the city's parking garages to private operators for 50 years.

The move is a reverse in course from the unanimous vote last month by the council to seek bids on the plan. However, the city did not receive any, which caused the council to reconsider.

The council instead voted Wednesday to consider other options proposed by City Council President Eric Garcetti to close its budget gap, including:

— asking the Community Redevelopment Agency to buy down the debt of three parking garages in Hollywood, including the Hollywood & Highland lot which costs the city about $4 million in debt payments annually;

— trying to negotiate a deal with the city's pension funds to reduce the amount the city must pay this fiscal year;

— considering selling certain parking garages; and

— instituting changes in the way the city manages its parking garages to make them more profitable.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana previously recommended additional furloughs and layoffs to balance the budget during the four and a half months remaining in the fiscal year, because personnel costs account for more than 90 percent of the city's expenses.

Several council members, however, expressed reluctance to further cut the pay of civilian workers already required to take either 16 or 26 days off.

The additional furloughs would prompt the closure of certain departments some Fridays.

"If I had to vote for people over concrete, of course I'd do it every time,'' Councilwoman Janice Hahn said.

Villaraigosa  directed the council to delete restrictions they had attached to the proposed parking garage concession agreement, saying it turned off all potential bidders.

Westwood business owners were concerned that if the parking plan had gone through, rates would go up thereby discouraging people from visiting the village to shop. Currently, the city subsidizes the Broxton garage with free parking for the first two hours.

This articles comes courtesy of WESTWOOD-CENTURY CITY PATCH. City News Service was used to compile this report.

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