Pro: Paid parking acknowledges the value of downtown parking
Opinion by Margo Wheeler
Main streets and downtown are distinctive places with unique characters and characteristics. When you go to do your shopping or dining you are making a deliberate choice to go to a special place in your community, whether you’re consciously doing it or not.
Whether you just have a quick errand to run or you’re spending hours at a beauty shop or restaurant, you want to find parking nearby. You especially want to be certain that you can do so.
In Seal Beach, we provide permits for residents in areas where parking is at a premium. It is crucial to ensure that the actual residents of the area can park near their own homes and not have out-of-town beach-goers there all day.
However, currently in downtown Seal Beach, we do the opposite. Rather than ensuring that parking is immediately available to those patronizing downtown businesses, we make it free for beach goers to park downtown for free while having paid-parking downhill next to the sand.
Patrons want to be right downtown right near their favorite stores and restaurants. Why on earth not charge a small fee so that those paying customers can be certain they can find a place to park? Beach-goers will find their way to the free parking at the pier.
Smart meters now make it possible to make paying easy and allow for additional add-on time to accommodate those who shopping or entertainment requires more time. Enforcement is also updated and more easily handled than in the past.
So very many people that I encounter say that they would love to go downtown but have not have done so because they cannot find a parking space. I promptly and truthfully reply that I have never not found a space nearby, but perception drives decision-making.
By requiring a small cost for parking, the city is acknowledging the value and importance of downtown parking, and people will then value this asset accordingly.
Certainty is the crucial component missing that would allow more lost and/or potential customers to come downtown and enjoy all the wonderful goods and services on offer. Knowing there is a there is a constant turnover allows patrons to feel sure they will find a parking spot.
Choosing to shop at Main Streets B or LB Town Center (Lowes) or Cerritos Mall is not based on free parking, there are entirely different locations with wildly variant experience.
Belmont Shore, with its metered parking, is a far more comparable experience. Excellent shops and dining, lovely surrounding neighborhoods and even an annual Christmas parade. Based on the busy days and nights at Belmont Shore, it’s clear that meters have not scared away customers.
In her 1965 Grammy Award-winning song, which is often re-recorded, Petula Clark sang that when “we are alone and lonely we can go downtown, where we can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares.”
Cities should make every effort to properly value their downtowns. Free parking is for the fringe and out of the way locations, not the heart of the city. I know that a meal at one of the great restaurants, a new “do” at a salon, a doodad or a decoration that I didn’t know I needed or, or course, an ice cream or other treat confirm that “things will be great when you’re downtown.”
Margo Wheeler is the District Five representative on the Seal Beach Planning Commission and a past member of the city’s Citizen-Council Parking Advisory Ad Hoc Committee.
Con: Seal Beach parking dilemma, Creating winners and losers
Opinion By Rob Jahncke
As a former member of the Seal Beach Ad Hoc Parking Committee and a Main Street business owner for 16 years, I strongly believe that implementing paid parking in Old Town would seriously harm our community by creating new “winners and losers” in our local marketplace.
Residents would lose due to parking spillover into nearby neighborhoods as drivers seek to avoid paying meters.
Businesses would lose as fewer patrons choose to visit Main Street because of parking costs at a time when many small businesses are already struggling.
City Hall would win, with an estimated $397,237 in new annual revenue.
I appreciate the education the city provided on parking policy and theory. However, much of that information appeared framed to support paid parking based on consultant recommendations. One must ask: would a consultant ever be hired to recommend against paid parking?
This policy was tried once before on Main Street. The result was widespread protest—coin slots were jammed with toothpicks, and the City Council ultimately removed the meters. That history should not be ignored.
The projected $397,237 in revenue, cited in a recent council meeting, appears to be the primary motivation behind reconsidering paid parking. But what about the real costs?
In 2023, the city conducted a survey of residents, business owners, and visitors regarding paid parking. I personally helped recruit participants because I genuinely wanted to understand public opinion. The results showed overwhelming opposition. The city’s consultant responded that this reaction was “normal.” If strong public resistance is expected, then why is paid parking being pursued again?
Parking on Main Street during the off-season (November through March) is generally available, except for peak weekend hours between lunch and mid-afternoon. Would paid parking discourage even those few visitors who currently support local businesses during slow periods?
Across the country, many towns have lost their downtowns to vacancy and decline. Seal Beach still has a vibrant—though stressed—Main Street that many communities would envy. That vitality can disappear quickly if mismanaged, and once it is gone, it is extremely difficult to restore. My own experience proves this. When I acquired Javatinis in 2010, the business was failing due to poor prior management. It took three years of hard work before the business stabilized. I never take our customers or Main Street for granted.
Even the city recognizes the stress on Main Street with their “Business First” plan. While I welcome the city’s “Business First” plan, competition from nearby areas is intense—Long Beach, Rossmoor, and Surfside all offer easier and often free parking where they can eat, shop, or visit a salon nearby for free? And in today’s world, why struggle with parking meters when Amazon can deliver directly to your door?
Paid parking also contradicts the Seal Beach experience. Main Street is meant to be a place where people linger—where they can smell the ocean air, feel the breeze, enjoy a meal, and browse through shops without watching the clock.
Quick, transactional shopping works for strip malls and big-box stores like Costco, Home Depot, or CVS. It does not work for a coastal Main Street built on strolling, browsing, and community.
Supporters argue that paid parking will solve congestion. But will it?
Paid parking discourages people from spending time downtown. That means fewer spontaneous purchases after a meal, fewer relaxed afternoons exploring local shops, and fewer conversations over coffee before walking to lunch. It means no wandering into a boutique “just because.”
Instead, people will seek free parking in surrounding neighborhoods and shopping centers such as the Pavilions lot. This will increase congestion on residential streets and raise new concerns about alleyways and side streets behind Main Street businesses becoming overcrowded.
Will Javatinis lose customers to Starbucks at Pavilions because they do not charge for parking? How many other businesses will experience the same shift? How many can afford it?
The real question is not how much money paid parking could generate, but how much damage it could do to the long-term health of Main Street.
Seal Beach thrives because it encourages people to slow down, connect, and enjoy the experience of being here. Paid parking risks turning a coastal village into just another transactional shopping zone.
That is not the future our Main Street deserves.
Rob Jahncke is a business owner and Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce board member.
