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Volume 8 Issue 113
Santa Monica Daily Press GOING TO PARIS TO UNWIND SEE PAGE 6
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THE HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS ISSUE
New parking stations to expedite exits BY MELODY HANATANI Daily Press Staff Writer
DOWNTOWN Those frustrating days of queuing in the exit line at the garage, waiting for the drivers who dig through their car ashtray in an attempt to find enough change, could soon be a thing of the past. A series of prepaid parking ticket stations at the city-owned garages in Downtown are expected to go live over the next several weeks as City Hall puts the finishing touches on a new program aimed at expediting departures. The machines, which are already present in the garages on Second and Fourth streets, will allow patrons to pay for their parking fees before heading back to their cars, leaving the structure by simply feeding the prepaid ticket upon their exit. The wait time to leave the garages has long fueled complaints by parking patrons, prompting City Hall last fall to install unattended machines in the second exit lane that would allow drivers to pay with their credit cards. “They said it takes too long and that it’s a downside to using the parking structures,” said Miriam Mack, the economic development manager. “We’re trying to change it and improve it and expedite it.” Mack said that several of the Downtown structures slated to undergo renovation will reopen with a design intended to expedite the exit lanes. City officials said they have noticed an improvement since adding the credit card pay option, seeing a 20 percent increase in the number of drivers using the second lane. “We see slowly more and more people use credit cards to pay for parking,” said Frank Ching, the parking coordinator for City Hall. “We are expecting more after the new machines are put into action.” Some drivers who frequent the garage voice a different experience. “The express takes longer than the actual cashier,” said Mike Sanchez, an employee at SEE PARKING PAGE 8
Brandon Wise brandonw@smdp.com
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT? A personal jet flies over Bundy Drive on its way to the Santa Monica Airport on Monday afternoon. Attorneys for City Hall and the FAA on Monday called witnesses in a hearing in Long Beach over a City Council ban on jet aircraft.
FAA, City Hall square off over jet ban BY MELODY HANATANI Daily Press Staff Writer
LONG BEACH A local ordinance banning the fastest and largest jets from Santa Monica Airport — a law that is being challenged by the Federal Aviation Administration — is reasonable in its intent to protect residents who live just a short distance from the runway, according to a former federal official. “What the Santa Monica government has done is what the FAA should’ve done to ensure safety at the airport,” said Jim Hall, former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, who served from 1993 to 2001. Hall was among a handful of witnesses called to testify Monday during the open-
ing day of the FAA’s hearing into the legality of a 2008 Santa Monica ordinance that banned categories C and D jets from the airport, addressing concerns that a plane would one day overshoot the runway and land on homes just 300 feet away. The hearing, which is expected to conclude by the end of the week, is being held in response to a nearly six-year-long FAA internal investigation that ruled the ordinance would put City Hall in violation of its federal obligations to the agency. The administrative review started in 2002 when the Airport Commission recommended the City Council adopt a ban on the fastest jets, but was placed on hold when city and federal officials began negotiating several runway safety enhancement options. The investigation resumed when the ordinance
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passed in March of ‘08 after City Hall and the FAA failed to reach a compromise on safety enhancements. A ruling is expected no later than May 14. “We feel we have a very strong case and we’re moving for safety and that can’t be a bad thing,” said Lance Gams, the deputy city attorney. Just a few witnesses were called on the opening day, including Edward Bennett, a former employee of the FAA, and Hall, who was appointed to the NTSB in 1993 by former President Bill Clinton. Today he is partner of Hall and Associates LLC and has consulted City Hall on FAA matters. SEE HEARING PAGE 9
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