Parking Meters on Abbot Kinney?

Abbot Kinney Merchants Association explores idea.

By Sam Catanzaro

The Abbot Kinney Merchants Association and the City of Los Angeles are exploring the idea of bringing parking meters to the iconic street.

“For many years we have been encouraging the City to explore improvements to increase and optimize parking on Abbot Kinney Blvd. We also now see the need to add space for micro transit such as bikes, motorcycles, scooters, ect. The obvious starting point was to add meters to increase turnover rates,” the merchants association wrote in a letter circulated to surrounding neighbors last month.

According to the letter, the parking restrictions would remain the same only there would be meters enforcing the restrictions. There would not be a meter for each spot, but instead, a pay box to allow for multi-space parking.

If the city’s proposal comes to fruition, installation of meters on Abbot Kinney Boulevard would coincide with the introduction of the LA Express Park program, which integrates new technology to increase parking availability by including vehicle sensors under each spot.

“We think that this is worth exploring and it could be beneficial to both residents and businesses in the area, as increased turnover rates will provide more open parking throughout the day,” the Abbot Kinney Merchants Association said in their letter.

Councilmember Mike Bonin echoed this enthusiasm in his February newsletter, stating that parking meters on Abbot Kinney have the potential to reduce traffic in the area.

“The proposal would not change the amount of time people are allowed on the street – it would only add meters to help enforce parking rules,” Bonin said. “With Express Park, sensors are installed in parking spaces, so people can use smartphone apps to find a spot, and there is the opportunity for parking rates to adjust based on demand. The system helps reduce traffic caused by people circling the neighborhood looking for parking, and it provides important data to the city to help improve how parking is managed.”

Some residents, however, in the surrounding area with the prospect of parking meters on Abbot Kinney Boulevard because patrons shopping in the area use side streets to park. This often forces residents without garages to park on Abbot Kinney.

For more information about the proposal to add meters to Abbot Kinney, please contact the Abbot Kinney Merchants Association at info@abbotkinneyblvd.org.