When the city of Los Angeles cleared a massive recreational vehicle homeless encampment along Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills area in December, local business owner Nancy Sexton was thrilled to see the RVs finally gone.
But soon after, her elation turned to disappointment as she discovered that, along with getting rid of the RVs, the city without notice banned parking along part of Forest Lawn Drive by painting the curb red.
“We’re really grateful that (the city) cleaned up the RVs, but (they’re) screwing me in the process,” she said.
Sexton owns The Muse Rooms, which offers co-working spaces, at the corner of Barham Boulevard and Forest Lawn Drive near Universal Studios. While there’s a parking garage onsite, her members often parked on the street to avoid the $12 daily garage fee.
Peter Wacks is a member of The Muse Rooms. Since street parking was cut back by the city, he’s been paying out-of-pocket for some of his teammates to park in the onsite garage — a pricey $5,000 added expense this year, he estimates.
“We’re a startup (company), so we survive off of what I dig out of savings and small investments,” Wacks said.
There is still some parking on Forest Lawn Drive, but many of those spaces are limited to two hours of parking or less. Before much of that street became off-limits to parking, Sexton said, there were more spots where people could park all day without worrying about moving their cars every couple of hours.
The changes have hurt her business.
It’s been “incredibly frustrating” to hear her members, or prospective members who tour her facility, tell her they love the space she offers — but have decided to go elsewhere because of the lack of free parking nearby, Sexton said.
Before signing a 10-year lease, Sexton said, she looked into the parking situation and found it adequate for her clientele. She has eight years left on her lease.
Stella Stahl, spokesperson for L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman,…
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