Parking Permits Cause Tension in SoCal Neighborhoods

"Orange County cities are seeing a boom in demand for residential parking districts, often from single-family homeowners hoping to keep residents of adjacent apartment buildings from parking on their streets," reports KPCC.

Anaheim and other cities are experiencing a "parking squeeze," causing homeowners and renters to compete for limited curb space. KPCC describes a stark contrast between streets with permits and those without:

On a recent evening at the end of the workday, both sides of Juno were bumper to bumper, and six cars were double-parked, hazard lights blinking, in the middle of the road.

In contrast, curb space was ample along the three streets north of Juno where people need a permit to park. One resident lifted weights in the full gym he had installed in his garage. Another had four cars parked in the driveway in front of his two-car garage.   

A planning commissioner for Dana Point suggests that the parking shortage is actually a symptom of the lack of affordable housing throughout the county: More people crowding into the same unit means more cars parked on that street.