Hermosa City Council pulls the plug on holiday parking program
by Laura Garber Hermosa Beach Mayor Mike Detoy saw the backlash coming before he cast the deciding vote. “I can already see my AI posters all over town as the Grinch,” Detoy said. The City Council voted 3-2 on Tuesday to suspend the city’s complimentary holiday parking program for 2026. Detoy, Councilmembers Michael Keegan and Rob Saemann voted in favor. Councilmembers Ray Jackson and Dean Francois voted against. The program has offered free parking at the city’s 388 silver post meters during the holiday shopping season for decades. Last year it ran three weeks, from Dec. 3 through Christmas. Senior Management Analyst Ken Bales estimated that a three-week program would cost the city about $200,000 in lost meter and citation revenue. Four weeks would cost close to $270,000. “There is limited evidence demonstrating that the resulting economic activity offsets the city’s subsidy,” Bales said. Before the vote, several residents said the council has debated the same question for years without data to settle it. Last year the council asked the Chamber of Commerce to provide foot-traffic data from the analytics firm Placer.ai. “It’s like watching Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day over and over…
Read this story on easyreadernews.com