Zoned-out? Zoned-out? (February 18, 2004)

Committee will look anew at downtown's color zones

by Bill D'Agostino

Councilwoman Judy Kleinberg had three meetings in downtown Palo Alto one day, forcing her to repeatedly move her car from one "color zone" to another, to avoid getting a parking ticket.

"I couldn't seem to get out (of) my color zone," Kleinberg said. "I was getting more frustrated and upset."

Love them or hate them, downtown Palo Alto's four-toned color zones (purple, coral, lime and blue) are going to be revisited by the Chamber of Commerce's newly reconstituted Parking Committee.

During weekdays, cars are prohibited to re-park in the six- to 12-block color zones prior to 5 p.m.

The committee's first meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 19 at noon at the chamber office, 122 Hamilton Ave. The committee is also looking at whether the city's parking garages should expand their hourly limits.

At a recent City Council meeting, Kleinberg wondered if it was time to abolish the much-maligned color zones since two new parking garages opened late last year.

The city, Kleinberg said, is getting an increasing number of complaints from shoppers who say they received tickets due to the time and zone limits. In many cases, the shoppers have announced they would never shop in Palo Alto again. The parking zones are confusing, and hurt businesses at a time when retail dollars are scarce, she said. The message is, "it's OK to shop Palo Alto but don't park here."

A South San Francisco resident sent a letter to the council earlier this month saying that the parking signs are "extremely confusing." He included a copy of his coral zone ticket, and $35 check to pay the ticket.

"I will not patronize your city due to this event," the man wrote. "For a 5 dollar item ... it cost me $40."

"For our community to a have a very strict parking system -- when our neighboring communities don't -- seems to me to say, 'We don't really care if you shop here or in neighboring cities,'" Kleinberg said. When Jerry Hsia moves his car from zone to zone every two hours, he leaves his furniture store Gingko (in the coral zone, located across from city hall) unattended, or temporarily closes up shop. Removing the zones so he would only have to move a few spots away "would make my life a lot easier," he said.

Or would it? Advocates of the system -- yes, there are a few -- believe that letting cars have a free-for-all could make it harder for some drivers, especially customers, to find a place to park.

As one parking attendant was walking around checking license plate numbers in the purple zone, she pointed out that there are more cars than stalls in downtown.

"They're effective in keeping people who are employees from taking parking spaces that we'd like to be occupied by customers," said Chop Keenan, a downtown real estate developer.

Before the zones were installed -- in 1995 -- employees would regularly engage in "sleeper parking" where they'd move one spot at a time, leaving no room for customers, Keenan said. "In retail or in office, parking is gold," he said.

Staff writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com.

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