By Nancy Williamson

If there is any GOOD reason to allow OPD’s in Venice, I have yet to hear it. For those with garages, I suppose enforcement might make the landscape a little prettier – but for those of us garage-less left to struggle on a daily basis for parking spaces, give me one good reason why I should be in favor of this inane proposal.

OPDs will not solve the parking problems – as no one that I know of is looking for a space at 2AM. We need spaces when we return for the day – usually be- tween 5PM and 8PM. Only preferential resident park- ing would help this problem, but the Coastal Commis- sion has ruled otherwise. Therefore, would it not be inconsistent for the Coastal Commission to then allow the OPD ordinance to pass?

Not to mention the additional hardship of now having to pay for previously free parking on public streets!

And, I would question, who pays for enforcing this ordinance? If we don’t hire additional parking control officers, that would leave enforcement up the the police, and they have better and more important things to do! Perhaps the plan is to pay for additional personnel with our permit fees – need I point out that if that is the case, we would be paying to be further in- convenienced.

Where is the logic of the ordinance itself? Why are the forbidden hours between 2AM and 5AM? Why not between 1:30AM and 6:30AM? Or midnight to 7:00? What is so special about the AM hours of 2 and 5? I am totally worn down by the lack of accessible parking in Venice and would love to be able to easily park every time I come home, but as long as I choose to live in a world-class tourist destination, this will never happen. I do not see any reason to support a measure which will do nothing to help me, which vio- lates the spirit of what makes this such a special place, and speaking selfishly, will definitely make my life much worse!