The not-so-patient friends will call me as soon as they get to my house and say: “Where do I park?” To be completely honest, the question itself is a bit frustrating. I certainly cannot create parking spots on the fly, and anyone who visits an apartment building in Glendale should come with the understanding that parking can be challenging. Patient or not, the source of frustration is still understandable.
Of course, even if those red curbs were shortened to resemble their counterparts in other cities, it would not mean they’d be reserved for my mom or any of my friends.
There are many such measures in our city that may seem problematic to some of the residents. Unreasonably long traffic lights, slow speed limits stuck in the past and lengthy red curbs are some of the ways we want to keep fighting the growth of our city. Consciously or subconsciously, we may feel if we maintain some of the standards or guidelines of the past, things will somehow snap to the days when our city was less populous.
Once you build the shopping malls and the grand apartment building, anyone has the right to shop or live in them. Yet, to have parallel measures in place that directly or indirectly discourage or annoy the growth we have authorized is disingenuous.
The traffic and congestion are an effect of some of the developmental policies encouraged by our city and business leadership as well as elected officials. Residents are not the cause of the problem.
Last week I noticed several large new apartment buildings being built around where I live. They are immediately south of Glenoaks Boulevard and are apart by a few blocks. I have already witnessed the construction of at least two in the last two years.
