Last week I had a hair appointment in Menlo Park and had a very difficult time finding a parking place. After driving up and down all the lanes in the parking lot (not sure which number), I was on my way out back to city street when I found a spot 3 spots from the street. It was behind the buildings facing on to Oak Grove Ave. The parking spots along that stretch are undersized, very narrow and short. I do not have a large car, but the car next to me was a Mini Cooper and was, of necessity I’m presuming, parked very close to the line on my Passenger side, their driver side. Because of the door placement on the Mini Cooper, it was clear to me that the driver of that car would not be able to open his door enough to get in the car. It was time for my appointment and I didn’t have time to circle the neighborhood, I felt like it was a dirty trick but I parked in the open place, as close to the car on my left as I could, inside the lines of my spot. I’m sure the Mini Cooper driver had to climb over the console of their car to get to the driver’s seat. I actually went out to check my car for damage during my appointment and the Mini Cooper was gone and another car was attempting to enter that spot. The woman had a small SUV and was able to get into the spot, and because of the placement of her driver’s side door she had a chance of exiting her door but decided it was too close and climbed over the console and exited the passenger side. We chatted briefly, she said she also had cruised the parking lot and grabbed the last spot available. Then she said how unbelievable it was the City Council was thinking of using our downtown lots for housing. I totally agree. This is only the most recent time I have encountered finding parking difficulties shopping that section of Santa Cruz Ave, there have been many more.
I have perused the alternative sites offered by the Save Downtown people and they look perfectly reasonable to me for housing, why is the council still contemplating the parking lot option? I have nothing but sympathy for our merchants who are under threat to their livelihoods. I hope the whole parking lot idea can be put to bed next Council meeting.
Another option to ease the already difficult parking situation: reinstate the time limit on parking in the existing lots and enforce that. My hair dresser says he sees people park in the lot and go off with someone in another car, leaving their car there all day.
