Photo: FLLewis/Media City G – A crew worked on the landscape and irrigation at a new parking lot in the 3900 block of West Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank August 9, 2014
A crew was out working on landscape and irrigation at the new parking lot in the 3900 block of West Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank this morning. The construction of the public parking lot has hit some snags in recent months, resulting in delays. Now, work on the lot appears to be moving forward at a brisk pace.
Photo: FLLewis/ Media City G — A worker used a shovel in the landscape area of a new parking lot in the 3900 block of West Magnolia Boulevard Burbank August 9, 2014
Public Works Director, Bonnie Teaford, told Media City Groove back in June, the lot would be ready to open sometime in August. Nearby residents like Dodie Shepard are eager for the lot to be completed, in hopes it will relieve some of the parking problems in the area.
Photo: FLLewis /Media City G — Parked vehicles along the 1000 North Kenwood Street in Burbank August 9, 2014
Shepard has lived in the 1000 block of North Kenwood Street for more than 40 years. Over the years, she has seen the parking problems get worse as the surrounding businesses expand and hire more employees. Shepard estimates as many as 50 employees of the businesses up on Magnolia Boulevard park all day on the street. “I see them every morning,” Shepard, a retired entertainment industry worker, says.
Photo: FLLewis/ Media city G — Two hour parking restriction signs are posted on the 1000 block of North Kenwood Street in Burbank August 9, 2014
Several years ago, Shepard led a successful neighborhood petition campaign to get two-hour parking restriction signs posted on her street. However, she says the business employees ignore the signs and Burbank Police traffic control officers are rarely around to enforce the parking restriction. They “… should come around twice a day, but they don’t,”Shepard stated. When they do come around and ticket, she claims some of the offenders boast they just blow off the tickets. Also, she complains the employees frequently eat lunch in their parked vehicles and dump their trash in the street.
Secondly, parking is already scarce on the street because many of the properties include rental units. Shepard, who admits to being in her 80s, had a couple of units built behind her home in the mid-1980s and was forced to provide on site parking of 1 1/2 spaces for the one bedroom apartment and two spaces for the two-bedroom apartment. The problem is worse for other property owners on Kenwood who have a shortage of on site parking and must depend heavily on street parking for their tenants.
Shepard says the solution is for the new lot to allow the employees to park for several hours. Also, she says the BPD traffic officers need to step up and enforce the parking restrictions. “What’s the point of rules” if they’re going to be ignored.
More on the parking problems on Magnolia Boulevard coming soon.
City Buzz: Magnolia Park merchants seek solutions to parking problems
