Speak up to stop the new buildings from making parking worse

For info about the parking in this project, see the 320 Alamitos tab.

Update! The hearing date has been postponed to August 17th. Watch here for more updates.

We've explained on this site how the Downtown Plan's parking requirements are rapidly making parking worse. A few people contacted us and posted on nextdoor.com because the City sent residents a Notice of Public Hearing in the mail. The notice tells of a Planning Commission hearing for approval of another new building coming soon to 320 Alamitos. (Remember - the date on this notice has changed to August 17.) People are very concerned that this building takes away a large parking lot, then the new building doesn't provide enough parking for new residents. Same story, different day. Most of these people hadn't heard of us but came to their own conclusions, then looked for help!

We need public pressure to convince the city to make the needed changes.

(Here's our flyer that you can print and give to neighbors.)

It's easy for you to speak up! You probably already know enough about how this is hurting you to help change it. Either write a letter or speak at the hearing. You don't need to know the details of parking planning. You know that they need to change what they are doing. You might even enjoy getting out that frustration you feel on a daily basis! Here is the best way to do that.

Decide whether to speak directly to the Planning Commissioners or write a letter (or both!). Obviously, people speaking to them face-to-face is most effective but commissioners have mentioned letters that they read.

Planning Hearing

At the beginning of the meeting everyone will be sworn in to say you are telling the truth. Public Comment starts after staff reads the agenda item. People line up to speak. Each person gets 3 minutes. There's a clock on the screen that starts green, then turns yellow, then red as your time runs out. We suggest you read your prepared comments out loud before the meeting so you know how long they take. When it's your turn to speak, you must first state your name and address for the record.

Meeting: Thursday, August 17. 5 pm.

City Hall 333 West Ocean Blvd. 1st floor City Council chambers just inside the city hall entrance to the right.

TAPS will give away t-shirts outside of the front door.

Parking garage entrance on Broadway.

Letters

The ecomments thingy hasn't been available so we suggest an email.

Emails but be submitted by 1 pm on Thursday, August 17th.

• Send an email to the Planning Commission secretary. Heidi.eidson@longbeach.gov

• Write in the subject line "320 Alamitos"

• Ask her at the beginning of your email to give your email to the Planning Commissioners.

• Speak your mind in a concise way. (Long letters lose their attention with so much to read.) Cussing won't get the job done. :)

• sign with your real name and address for the record.

What to write?

Remember that this hearing is about approving the site plans for this project only so you need to keep your comments on that subject. For instance, my comment would be that the city needs to change their parking requirements before this building is approved so that there's enough parking for the new residents and businesses. Without that, this building will hurt me and our area...

Of particular concern to city leaders seems to be matters of safety, money, and the success of all this development. If you fear walking home from your car after dark or getting hit by people rushing to get to a parking spot, that's important. If you are losing money and time that could be spent in area businesses because your are cruising for parking every day, be specific, that's important. If all their development might not be successful because people don't wan't to stay here due to the parking mess, that's important.

For specific info about the parking in this project, go to the 320 Alamitos tab.

What can the Planning Commission and City Council do? (partial list)

1. Notify developers that residents of the new buildings will not be able to acquire residential parking passes if such new programs are implemented. This may convince some developers to make sure they have enough parking rather than depending on street parking for their Spillover.

2. Require the developers to perform mini parking studies to determine how much parking they need. These studies would consider site-specific details and the area immediately surrounding the project. This method is not expensive for developers and is not new to Long Beach.

3. The City Council has the ability to declare a moratorium on new project approvals until the parking study is completed.

4. The City’s own “Carl Walker parking and access strategic plan” that was used to develop the Downtown Plan recommended that the city partner with some developers to add public parking to the new buildings. This has not been done. There is money coming from the RDA properties that is slated for downtown projects and could be used for this recommendation.