"KEEP ON PARKING IN THE FREE WORLD..."

Now for a bit of UCSB news, since as far as I know I have the market cornered in terms of UCSB-centric blogs.

Could Isla Vista's utopia of free parking be coming to an end?

Over a dozen students and residents who spoke out against a plan to require permits for parking in Isla Vista did not sway the Project Area Committee and General Plan Advisory Committee (PAC/GPAC), which voted overwhelmingly to approve the plan at its meeting Wednesday night.

The eight-to-one vote followed a presentation of the parking plan by staff from the Santa Barbara County Public Works Dept. and nearly two hours of public comment - the majority of which expressed discontent with the proposed $195 cost of an annual permit and a perceived lack of opportunity for student input in the plan's design.

While the meeting began with a crowd of approximately 70 people at the Francisco Torres Residence Hall, most of those in attendance left immediately after the PAC/GPAC voted to adopt the parking plan. Several stayed to continue lobbying county staff and PAC/GPAC members during a five-minute recess.

"We use our cars because it's convenient. We have to get to work. We have to go to work to pay for rising school fees and high rent," said Jaime Marks, a UCSB junior film studies major. "These are our homes, not events that we need to pay for."

Other students said paying nearly $200 to park in front of their own houses was "ridiculous," and that the permit program would not solve I.V.'s parking crunch because it aims to protect resident spaces from commuters during the day, even though parking is more difficult to find at night.

Jason Everitt, UCSB Inter-Fraternity Council president, said the permit program will not solve parking concentration problems. Since the permits do not guarantee spaces, people will still want to park as close as possible to their homes resulting in the same competition for prime spaces at night that currently exists,

"People would rather drive around for 20 minutes [looking for a space] than pay to drive around for 20 minutes," Everitt said.

(...)

The PAC/GPAC-approved parking plan requires residents purchase a permit for parking anywhere in I.V., but it preserves free but time-limited parking for beach access on Camino Majorca. It also creates a pay-by-space zone covering I.V.'s downtown district, including parts of Pardall Road and the Embarcadero loop. In all areas west of Camino Pescadero, the plan allows for one hour of free parking.

John McGuiness, a county employee who presented the plan to the PAC/GPAC, said annual resident permits could be purchased online and 24-hour guest permits - costing $3 for the first 15 permits per resident and $7 for each additional permit - could be picked up from a local parking office. For a slightly higher cost, residential permits could be purchased on a quarterly basis, and special price breaks will be available to those able to demonstrate financial need.

McGuiness said primary goals of the plan include freeing up the roughly 600 to 1,600 spaces occupied daily by UCSB commuters who park in I.V. and then walk to school to avoid paying on-campus parking fees, in addition to increasing traffic to local businesses by facilitating quicker space turnover. He said the plan also aims to prioritize space availability for residents.

600 to 1,600 spaces? Bullplop. Grade-A bullplop. I've lived in Isla Vista for a couple of years now, and I can say with pretty good confidence that not only is there no space-related parking problem here in IV, but also that even if there was one, out-of-town commuters aren't the problem. They are likely cancelled out by Isla Vista residents who either park on campus during the day for various reasons, or commute to work in other parts of the Santa Barbara area.

I'm amazed that the Committee can't just come out and tell the truth: They want more revenue, and since Ahhnuld seems pleased as punch to milk the students of the UC system, then heck, so do they.

It reminds me of every county-wide referendum in the country that has been geared to the sole purpose of bringing in a Wal Mart; they never come out and say so, but speak in vague references to land-space requirements for businesses, even when the truth is plain to see.

Guys, come out and say it: You want revenue, and you like our money. And the recording industry wonders why CD sales are down.

The fact is the Isla Vista, more than Berkeley, Westwood, La Jolla or other UC cities, is truly a community that's essentially all college students. As Tyler Durden would put it, it's a "shelving unit" for college students, twenty thousand of them in a few square miles. We're not competing with the general population for parking, like students at other schools often are.

Furthermore, virtually never have I had trouble finding parking in IV, whether in the "downtown" district (if you can call it that) or in the residential sector in which I live. The only exception has been on the swingingest of party-nights around Halloween.

This is not about clearing congestion, this is about revenue. If PAC/GPAC would just come out and say it, I wouldn't have much of a problem. But a little honesty would be nice.