That’s what the city’s Department of Transportation learned after it raised the price of parking last year in the public lots located in Echo Park’s Sunset Boulevard business district. Many residents and business owners noticed that the lots were not as full after the rates went from 25 cents to $1 an hour last year, with many drivers apparently finding free, unmetered spaces on nearby streets. Without much fanfare, the rates were recently dropped to 25 cents for 30 minutes; 10 hours of parking now costs $2.50 instead of $4 in all but one lot (click on the link below for details provided by the city officials).
“Rates have been adjusted for off street parking lots to better serve the community and also to make them more attractive for people to use,” said department spokesman Bruce Gillman in an email. ” Normally, in areas where there are not a lot of parking meters, parking lots receive less usage. To make them attractive, the rates are kept lower than lots that compete with street metered parking … we anticipate them remaining at these lower rates for an indefinite period of time.
While the department may have lowered the rates in the public lots, there’s no word if the department’s Meter Division has made in repairing broken meters in those same lots. In response to citywide problems with malfunctioning meters, the department is “directing resources toward the immediate replacement of 10,000 single-space meters,” according to City Hall records.
The Parking Facilities Division of LADOT would like to inform you that parking rates will be decreased at one or more of the off-street parking facilities in your council district … The following lots will be affected in your district:
Lot 643: 1147 Echo Park Ave., Echo Park, CA 90026
Lot 662: 1152 Lemoyne St., Echo Park, CA 90026
Lot 663: 1146 Logan St., Echo Park, CA 90026
Lot 676: 1146 Glendale Blvd., Echo Park, CA 90026
Lot 679: 1711 Sunset Blvd., Echo Park, CA 90026
The rates will be decreased from $1.00/hr to $0.25/30 min; and the daily maximum rate will be decreased from $4.00 to $2.50 for 10 hours, with the exception of Lot 643. Lot 643 will have a maximum rate of $1.00 for 2 hours, instead of the current rate of $2.00 for 2 hours,
since the lot only has 2-hour parking available.
Related stories & links
* Signs of failure in an Echo Park parking lot. The Eastsider
* Buddy, can you spare a quarter for a parking space. The Eastsider
* Public Parking Locator. City of LA
L.A. Web Awards 
Best of L.A. 
The Eastsider publishes stories and news from the northeast corner of the City of Los Angeles and neighboring East Los Angeles. Who is the Eastsider? Where does the Eastsider roam? 