Did you hear about the extra parking meters that Oakland’s going to install in Montclair? There will be 25 metered positions on Mountain Avenue, placed between Snake and Scout Roads, and another 25 units positioned on Moraga Avenue, over on the Montclair Park side.
It’s been a long time since Today in Montclair has touched on that touchy subject: parking in the Village. The last time we asked you about parking, rates were raised, and times were extended and later rescinded by Oakland’s City Council. However concerns about our village vibrancy were never really addressed.
District 4 Rep Libby Schaaf has expressed her concern about these extra meters. The decision to add these and other city meters happened last year, and Schaaf will protest them as unnecessary at the next Council Meeting:
Our office convinced staff to limit the Montclair meters to the east side of the street only. While I must respect the need to generate revenues already budgeted for, I have many concerns about this proposal, which I’ll be voicing when this issue comes to the City Council this Tuesday, March 1st at 6:30pm.
Parking meters shouldn’t be [a] cash cow; they only make sense when part of a thoughtful policy of managing parking availability in support of our commercial districts.
If you want to hear the live Oakland City Council meeting, then plan to visit KTOP online or Comcast Channel 10 on Tuesday evening. Also please check out out the upcoming Council Meeting Agenda, to figure out when the topic might come up!
Update: Here’s a little good news. At Tuesday’s meeting, Council Rep Schaaf was able to reduce the new meter count from 50 to 22, split by the two locations.
Today in Montclair, 94611 
Here goes the same old story – the metrics that shine the light on the sustainability of government, and choice of tax and fine vs protect and serve.
There are choices to be made. Such as who really runs Oakland, specifically in this case, the Dept of “Meter Maids,” or the Mayor? Whose voice is more compelling to weigh on this? The merchants that employ people, the citizens that purchase here, generating that beloved tax revenue, or do we choose the laser focus of the “meter maid” that rejoices in the “Gotcha” moment of levying the $50+ fine. I say the former.
IMO – NOTHING should be allowed to exist in the government sector that does not improve the quality of life of our citizens. That would be my sniff test. If IT fails that test, delete it, quash it, fire the staff, change the police, do whatever is necessary to stop the pain that is so inflicted. Pull this off and you will be able to CUT staffing (less complaints from irate citizens = save $$$) and, at the same time citizens may like their government more. At the end of the day, more people may make more money and maybe, we can get through the economic train wreck that we remain embroiled in by working together.
Once again, the best way for the merchants of Montclair Village to get more parking would be to stop parking in their own metered spaces all day long. Yes, you know who you are!
This will be bad for those people that commute on the V bus and are not in walking distance of a bus stop…
I agree. There should be no meter parking, and commuters should be allowed to park all day in front of merchants. Also, the parking lot in Montclair is way too far up the hill, and for the expensive cost of $1 or $2 during a shopping stay, one could easily drive to Walnut Creek or Emeryville. (Where it also costs $1 or $2 to park for a movie, shopping or dinner).
Meters and meter enforcement (or “meter maids” as Bennett Hall says) should not run the City, should not enforce meters, and should not exist.
Most importantly, if people overstay a meter (or don’t pay it to begin) they should be extremely livid at both Oakland & merchants, and not at themselves. Free parking is, after all, a very important right and one of the biggest problems in Oakland. & by discounting our important complaints (instead of less important issues like finding a solution for crime or the City’s budget) the City will cause more of us to move.