Complaints Over Cost of Parking Prompts Pasadena to Lower Rates

To the delight of shoppers, rates will be cut at city parking structures in Old Pasadena.

In response to complaints about the expense of parking in the San Gabriel Valley’s most popular pedestrian promenade, Pasadena officials this week approved cuts that will halve the rate of late-night parking and make other reductions.

“The city’s goal is to inspire guests to spend more time visiting the restaurants and stores and less time thinking about the cost of parking,” said David Grosse, administrator of Transportation and Public Works.

The new rates start July 1. The first hour will be free in either of the city-owned structures--on De Lacey Avenue south of Colorado Boulevard and Green Street between Fair Oaks and Raymond avenues.

Charges will be $1.50 per hour after the first hour, with a daily maximum of $5. Between midnight and 5 a.m. there will be a flat rate of $2. The changes will not affect the several privately owned structures around Old Pasadena.

Currently, parking is free for cars that spend less than an hour in the structures, but after one hour patrons are billed $1, and then an additional $1 per hour. The flat rate for late-night parking is $4.

“The problems were very much negative factors in the community,” said Grosse, adding that some Old Pasadena patrons rushed through their meals or shopping in order to beat the clock and make it out in under an hour. Others simply avoided the area.

The changes at the two structures, which have a total of 1,450 spaces, will be advertised in local shops and with banners. Grosse said businesses are enthusiastic about the changes.

But first there may be a bit of parking pain in Old Pasadena. The structures are undergoing a $690,000 retrofit in the wake of the Northridge quake, which will close some spaces in the De Lacey structure.

And for one still-undetermined day, the structure will be closed, Grosse said.

He said the city would give shoppers ample warning.