Parking Meters

According to a recent Gallup and Healthways poll, anger in Glendale is on the rise and comparable to residents in Pittsburg. That fact rather astounded me, considering that when compared to Pittsburg, we live in the land of milk and honey. Granted, due to the rains, the last couple of months have not been the prototypical picture of California dreamin’. I myself spent part of Sunday vacuuming water out of the entryway of our house. And while that may have been annoying, it wasn’t enough to make me as mad as say, having to live in Pittsburg would.

A bright sign during some dismal days My husband called out to me early Saturday morning to see the incredible rainbow that arced across the Crescenta Valley. We both agreed it was the largest and most vividly colored rainbow we had ever seen. Off to the side of this spectacular rainbow was a secondary, fainter pastel rainbow. Many of our neighbors were outside looking and photographing it. In these turbulent times, it was lovely to share this moment of nature’s beauty and hope that at the end of this rainbow is a promise of better times for our country.

GREEN POWER After introducing an ordinance last week that would give Glendale Water & Power customers the option of powering their homes using 100% renewable energy, the City Council on Tuesday will hold a final vote to approve the program. Called the Green Partners program, businesses and residents could opt to lock in a fixed, five-year “Green Partners Charge” in lieu of the more volatile fuel adjustment charge, which is adjusted in a regular basis to cover the changing costs of power and fuel purchases for the utility.

With the economy down, now we have to pay to park? It is not the merchants who are requesting the parking meters. This is another attempt by the city to accumulate some revenue in these economic tough times in order to encourage use of the parking structures on Maryland Avenue and Orange Street and California Avenue. Sometimes I want to walk on Brand Boulevard without being forced to buy anything from the merchants. In economic boom time, no one was complaining or requesting metered parking, and now suddenly merchants are requesting this?

Re: “ Bill targets broken meters ,” Jan. 9: Good for Mike Gatto and his legislation to bar cities from ticketing cars at broken meters. There is more than one broken meter on Ocean View Boulevard in Montrose which has been broken for months and months now. I tried calling authorities to alert them, but through multiple calls I could not find anyone who would take my complaint because it seems these meters aren't under any known authority or...

Why the change in parking meters on Orange Avenue behind Damon’s Steakhouse and I’m sure on all the other lots in Glendale? What once was a meter per car has now been replaced by one central meter to be used for every parking space in the entire lot. You have to input your parking space number along with your coins. When there was an individual meter per car, more or less, everyone paid. Now, unless the meter man spends the entire time policing each and every parking meter area “at the same time,” there could be a lot of “free” parking taking place.

DOWNTOWN — Metered parking hours on Brand Boulevard could be in for a change after the Transportation and Parking Commission recommended this week that downtown visitors be allowed to park for up to four hours. The City Council will have to approve the proposal from the commission, which also suggested that meters start at 7 a.m. instead of running from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. It will be the third time the council considers a change to the metered parking hours in downtown, which were strongly endorsed by the Downtown Glendale Merchants Assn.

Glendale officials today announced plans to temporarily shut down electronic parking meters in the downtown area after discovering a lapse in the wireless communication with enforcement officers that could lead to a ticket for motorists who are still within the time they've paid for. Metered parking will revert to manual enforcement as city officials work to correct the problem. Signs letting people know about the change are slated to be posted later today. The multi-space electronic meters, installed at the turn of 2009, were conceived as a way to prevent people from taking up valuable storefront spaces along Brand Boulevard for hours at a time, preventing the customer turnover that business owners said was needed.

Free parking in downtown Glendale is set to end Monday, when the city plans to reactivate electronic meters after technical issues caused erroneous ticketing and prompted officials to temporarily take them offline. Since the meters were suspended Aug. 11, parking officers have been manually enforcing time limits only. They will continue to manually monitor the electronic meters for two weeks after the machines are rebooted Monday, officials said. The meters were taken offline after city officials discovered occasional delays in the wireless communication signal between the electronic meters and hand-held receivers used by parking officers.

Legislation introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake) that would prevent authorities from issuing tickets for parking at broken or malfunctioning meters may be eliciting fist pumps from drivers everywhere, but in the tri-city area, it's largely a moot point. Introduced this week, Assembly Bill 61 would essentially prevent local governments from enacting laws that make it illegal to park in a space controlled by a broken meter. But Burbank doesn't employ parking meters, and neither Glendale nor Pasadena prohibit parking at a broken or malfunctioning meter, although both cities do ticket drivers who park longer than the posted time limit.