Where is the best place for the city's corporate yard?

No planner would put a repair yard next to our festivals and playhouse. That area would only contain the arts, parking, and recreation.

In 1996, a plan to include such uses was developed by the Village Entrance Task Force and unanimously approved by the City Council. That plan, brought forth after much public input, included a downtown parking structure and moved our repair yard to a degraded parking lot in Laguna Canyon purchased for this purpose. As a Task Force member, I supported that plan,

Since 1996, local politics have kept that decision from implementation. The musings of a council member about fitting the repair yard into the parking structure led designers to believe they had a council mandate. The result was a hybrid structure replacing 220 parking spaces with an inefficient repair yard.

Simply put: Do we want more parking downtown, or do we want that parking in Laguna Canyon? I support parking where people want it, next to our playhouse, festivals and downtown businesses.

I want to see more of Cheryl's commentaries--return me to the commentaries page!

Last updated 10/15/04.