My friend Norm Grossman was quoted in a recent column by David Hansen, "City eyes more downtown private parking," suggesting that the city of Laguna Beach tax private parking because banks are "basically running the parking lot for free, as far as the city is concerned. The city is getting nothing out of that."
Monica Tuchscher, a highly respected city planner, echoed Norm's comments, saying "There's these secondary businesses that may not be 'legal', and one method is to try. . .to gain revenue from that to offset other expenses."
While I understand that city officials would like to have more revenue for deserving city projects, I wonder whether Norm, Monica and I are seeing the same problem. The single issue that virtually every Lagunan puts at or near the top of the list of Laguna's problems is a lack of parking, particularly during summer. That issue has topped those lists for many years, and certainly tops the list for Laguna businesses.