Flexcar Wants On-Street Parking, Do You?

[tags]flexcar, los angeles, car sharing, ladot, car-free, parking[/tags]

As usual, this is a little late, but there’s still time to write a letter or even attend the meeting if you are free. The following is straight from Flexcar.

On Wednesday, October 24, 2007, at 5 pm, the LA City Council Transportation Committee will begin consideration of a pilot on-street car-sharing program. This pilot program, which would designate specific on-street parking spaces for car-sharing, is a small but important step by the City to promote and expand car-sharing in Los Angeles.

In order for the committee to move forward with this proposal, the City needs to hear from Flexcar members who use the service and see the benefits of car-sharing for the City of Los Angeles. We are urging you to come to the meeting and voice your opinion.

Date: Wednesday October 24, 2007
Time: 5 – 7 pm
Place: West LA Municipal Building
1645 Corinth Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90025

The LADOT report, indexed under Council File #: 05-2017, is available online.

If you can’t attend in person, please consider politely emailing your opinion to Adam Lid, the Committee’s Legislative Assistant (adam.lid@lacity.org) with a cc: to the Transportation Chair, Wendy Greuel (councilmember.greuel@lacity.org). If you do send an email, please refer to Council File #: 05-2017: On-Street Car-Sharing Program in the subject heading.

Since the meeting is basically going on right now, the email option is probably the best way to get your voice heard, you can read my letter after the jump…

Dear Mr. Lid,

I am writing in support of the proposed Car Sharing Pilot Program in Los Angeles. As a car-free Los Angeles resident, Flexcar has been instrumental in allowing me (and a number of my peers/associates) to fully commit to living without owning a pollution-spewing, congestion-causing vehicle in a city where it’s long been considered a necessity. As you know, congestion and pollution are the two biggest problems facing this city, and they will only get worse as more and more people move to the region in the next 50 years. Alternatives to personal vehicle ownership are necessary if we wish to fight the otherwise inevitable cessation of mobility and the associated costs of such a future. The increase in transit infrastructure and transit oriented development is a giant step of the right direction, but in a city that has the automobile flowing through its blood, it’s not enough until a fully comprehensive and reliable system is in place. This is where car-sharing programs like Flexcar come into place. As it stands right now, public transportation can get me to many places I need to go in a reasonable amount of time, but there are times when it is just not possible to get where I need to go without a car. Flexcar has a massive presence in my neighborhood, Downtown Los Angeles, and because of it I always have a fleet of 50+ cars in my virtual garage. Other parts of the city, however, are not so lucky to have such ample amounts of private parking lots/garages so close the residential units, and thus Flexcar is not an option for residents living in these areas. An ordinance allowing car-sharing companies to have certain on-street parking spaces for their vehicles would bring the advantages of car-sharing to a much larger population of Angelenos and thus give those residents the opportunity to live as I do. Inevitably this will lead to a much more mobile, clean, and friendly city - and it will give the residents of the city something they’ve long been lacking: an alternative to ownership. People often think that the Southern California dream is the automobile, I argue that it’s something else much larger, and better: freedom. Giving the people the opportunity to choose how they get around and you’ve given them the freedom that Southern California promises.

Respectfully,

Fred Camino