High school seniors and their families now have something more to celebrate on graduation day. Parking close to Redondo Union High School will now be more convenient one day out of the year, with exemptions made to permit parking restricted areas nearby the school on the day of commencement.
The Redondo Beach City Council voted last night to allow non-residents who do not hold parking permits to park on North Juanita Avenue during the commencement ceremonies, which for the 2014-2015 school year falls on June 18, 2015. The ceremony will start at 2 p.m. and crowds are expected to disperse by 4:30 p.m. Typically, over 700 seniors graduate, each who each are allowed up to six guests.
“You can imagine it’s a very large crowd — anywhere between 4,000 to 4,500 parents and relatives,” said Jens Brandt, assistant principal at RUHS, in an interview with Easy Reader. “It’s a full house, so parking is at a premium on that day….We’re very happy about getting that exemption. It’s a good thing that we don’t have to ask every year, because now it’s permanent.”
The council’s vote comes as a compromise between two opposing factions: residents of neighborhoods around the school — namely the 200 block of North Juanita Avenue, which lies directly south of the campus — and families of students and other school affiliates. Residents in the vicinity of the high school have complained for years about parking struggles and fighting for spots directly in front of homes, which culminated in the recent institution of permit-only parking on one side of the street; while the latter party of parents, friends, and relatives of students cites lack of school-adjacent parking as a problem, especially during high-traffic events such as home varsity football games.
The council approved the new permit parking program for the 200 block of North Juanita Avenue at its September 17 meeting after years of neighborhood agitation. Many residents were alarmed to find that discussions of a permit parking exemption were already under consideration.
The council expressed unanimous agreement with local residents of adjacent blocks, who have written emails to the council and have attended past council meetings to fight for their right to park.
“We’re talking about homeowners’ rights here….I think we gotta draw the line,” said District 4 Councilmember Steve Sammarco, who pushed to make exemptions to permit parking for both the graduation and Homecoming game days and ultimately opposed the final motion because it omitted the Homecoming game. “Put these out of towners on a steady diet of walking….I apologize to anyone from Juanita who had to come down here again.”
Redondo Union High School has six parking lots on or just adjacent to its campus, offering 510 total parking spaces, 138 of which include spaces available at Parras Middle School, Redondo Shores, and Beach Cities Health District. The school and school board have made significant efforts to disseminate knowledge about all available parking spaces by providing parking maps and directions in a visitors’ packet, given to athletics teams visiting RUHS. The guide cautions visitors of permit-only parking, telling them “to arrive early and park in the main lot on Diamond St to avoid any parking tickets.”
Council and city staff discussed putting up more explicit signage of existing best places to park in relation to the school, and local residents expressed their willingness to help.
Eric Bloomquist, a resident of the 200 block of North Juanita, shared a position that straddled both factions.
“I graduated from [RUHS] in ‘91. I played football there as well….With reference to the signage and the parking, if you want to hang a dropbox on our garage with little maps on where to park around the school, we’ll let you do that,” Bloomquist told the council.
“How about two outhouses and a hot dog stand?” Mayor Steve Aspel retorted.
“We can talk about that,” Bloomquist said with a smile.
