Shoppers and moviegoers visiting Pasadena’s iconic Playhouse District will soon have access to more metered street parking.
The Pasadena City Council voted on Monday, May 21, to expand the boundaries of the Playhouse District parking meter zone, implement an escalated parking meter rate — meaning people pay a base rate plus additional charges for each extra hour— and establish a Playhouse Parking Meter Zone Parking Advisory Commission.
Property owners and the business community in the district, located in the heart of Pasadena and centered around the historic Pasadena Playhouse, largely support the proposed changes. They believe it will provide better parking management and help alleviate traffic congestion in the area.
“While we accept that the transition to paid street parking may create short-term impacts, we feel it will create unique opportunities for expanded public and employee parking, management of valuable curb space, increased revenue for Playhouse Village initiatives, and greater utilization of our numerous off-street private parking facilities,” Brian Wallace, president and CEO of Playhouse Village Association, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the district, wrote in a letter submitted to the city prior to the meeting.
The City Council was also overall supportive of the change. In the beginning, Councilmember Gene Masuda raised concerns about the potential impact of paid street parking on local businesses.
“I’m really leery about this, because this is a business killer, I don’t know how it even got this far,” Masuda said. “I will listen to my colleagues, but this is something that concerns me, especially when I hear people go to other places like Arcadia, where they get free parking and they don’t have to deal with our parking meters.”
But Councilmember Jason Lyon, who represents District 7, an area that encompasses the Pasadena Playhouse, said there is actually “broad support” for the initiative in his…
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