Blog: Hyperion Parking Pain

Because Silverlake is now what the city calls a ‘destination point’ in Los Angeles, it’s also becoming harder and harder to navigate the traffic, park your car in front of your apartment or house, unload your trunk, or maybe even wheel your disabled self to the car that is now parked down the street because you couldn’t find any other spot.    

It’s all become unruly.  Trying to find a parking spot on Griffith Park Boulevard near Effie is next to impossible now.  And many of the houses, built way back when, just don’t have driveways or garages. 

So the voices of dissent are increasing and the impetus to petition for more permit parking near Sunset Junction grows.  Construction on a 400+ apartment building looms, where apparently parking allocation is less than palpable, and in a matter of weeks, a new gastro-pub the Black Cat, (at the corner of Hyperion and Sunset) will open, and it’s most likely going to be open 7 days a week until last call, which means valet, men running up and down the street to get the car that perhaps was parked in front of your house or the employees going to work.   

This is just one example but there are many more.   It’s what’s been happening under our noses and eyes for months and years now, what’s called the ‘change of use pattern’ making Silverlake the place to be, for eating and drinking and other things.   (Apparently, this neighborhood has more liquor licenses than they should and that are legally allowed). 

And it’s fine, even nice to have some good eats and fun places to socialize but what hasn’t gone along with this shiny happy expansion has been a plan for where all the cars go.  And even though each new business by law must provide a certain amount of parking spaces for their customers, rumor has it that many of them are not fully abiding or were grandfathered in by previous owners. 

And certainly the city has yet to address this issue; there are no parking structures planned for the growing number of visitors to our hood.  So if you, my fellow Silverlake resident, haven’t felt the parking pinch already, get ready for the pain.  

Already feeling this squeeze, 8 of us neighbors (and I include myself here) out of the 14 in attendance (not bad, eh?) showed up for the monthly Silverlake Neighborhood Council Transportation Committee meeting (run by Rusty Milar) this past Monday to request a motion to proceed to appeal (my oh my so many words) to the SLNC board for a letter of support which the City likes to see in anticipation of an application (more words, sigh) for permit parking, ONCE the moratorium on applications for permit parking is lifted which we hear will be soon.  Maybe before 2013, crossed fingers.  (But wait, before one gets too excited, even after one files a petition, it can take up to two years to process and proceed.)

So, after a 20 minute presentation (for an hour long meeting) on the high speed rail that’s due to be completed in California by 2027 (not sure why that was on the agenda for Silverlake?) and a request for additional funding of “Music Box Steps Day”  in October, and a suggestion by a committee member to look into a Silverlake ‘Adopt-a-Street’ program which would invite neighbors to help clean up a street every few months or so, we parking people had the floor. 

And the motion to become an agenda item at the next SLNC Board meeting to ask for a letter of support from the SLNC was granted.  What’s next?  We (and this includes any of you reading this blog who are equally interested and feeling the pain in this matter) are encouraged to show up on Weds. Sept 5th to the SLNC Board meeting at Micheltorena Elementary School Auditorium, 1511 Micheltorena St., Los Angeles, CA 90026 at 7 pm and in addition, (and if you can’t attend), we are encouraged to send emails to the SLNC board prior to the meeting - board@silverlakenc.org - stating our concerns why expanding the permit parking district in this area to include Hyperion (north of Sunset), Sanborn, Griffith Park Blvd & Effie is crucial now.   

Let's not wait until we have to take the Dash just to get to our cars.  And if you want to jump on the bandwagon and help, please email: sunsetjunctionparkingissues@gmail.com.  As we know, the more voices the better!