Letter: The real story of the parking permit appeal

Jimmy Benjamin is a former Half Moon Bay planning commissioner. This story has been corrected with a more up-to-date description of the Review’s correction. Coastsider had accidentally published an older version of the story. Now, that’s ironic.

Last month the HMB Planning Commission approved an overnight permit parking program. I will be appealing the project to either the City Council or the Coastal Commission, and wrote a letter to the City Planning Director to explain my concerns. I provided the Review and Coastsider.com with copies of my letter, and was surprised to see an error-flled and polarizing  summary of my appeal on the Review’s web site.  Although the abbreviated report was replaced with a much improved version a few days later, and both it and the print version are more accurate, it was up for an several days, an eternity in cyberspace. I am writing you to clear the air before another issue blazes out of control.
 
What is the project?  In response to residents’ concerns that some of these overnight visitors constitute a public safety threat, the program requires cars parked between midnight and 4am on streets adjacent to the state beach, in certain neighborhoods, to display a permit (to be purchased for $20/year) [map, Initial Study, Findings and Evidence]. When residents just east of the proposed permit area expressed concern that this would simply move the problem visitor a block away from the beach, staff explained that these noxious visitors are lazy, and will leave the neighborhood in search of another street next to the beach with easy beach access.