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Mark followed the day's arguments and politics over at LA Biz Observed. (Here's also Alice Walton at The City Maven, and Rick Orlov at the Daily News.) This evening, after a three-hour closed-door session, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said the City Council had voted unanimously to submit a parking garage concession agreement to potential private operators. An agreement could be released next week and a company selected in March to run parking garages in business districts around the city. David Zahniser in the Times:
Santana said the garage plan had been revised during the closed-door meeting but would not say how. But Council President Eric Garcetti said after the meeting that he had "listened" to complaints of Hollywood business owners and "would not have voted" for an agreement that did not protect its business district....The city's proposal was inspired by a similar deal in Chicago, where officials patched a budget shortfall by allowing a private company to run four parking garages, 36,000 parking meters and the Chicago Skyway toll road. That company aggressively raised rates, infuriating residents so much that it has become an issue in the city's current mayoral election....
Wednesday's vote came after Villaraigosa, budget officials and scores of city workers warned that the council would have to lay off more employees if it failed to select a private company to run the garages for the next 50 years. The lease is supposed to generate $53 million for the fiscal year that ends June 30.
Councilman Paul Koretz was in an especially ticklish spot: he's the unions' guy at City Hall, but also represents Westwood Village, where many storefronts are already vacant and fear losing more business to Santa Monica, Culver City and other places with cheap parking. "No matter what we decide, we're making the wrong decision," he said. Despite the heated rhetoric, Orlov points out that the money the Council hopes to get "will not likely arrive in time to help bridge this year's $63 million budget gap."
Mayor Villaraigosa statement: "I want to thank the City Council for voting to proceed with a responsible request for proposal (RFP) on the city’s parking garages. This decision keeps the City on a path charted last May when we unanimously chose to include this proposal in the Adopted City Budget. Moving forward with a proposal which maximizes the value of city parking garages is a critical part of our plan to restore Los Angeles to financial health.
The Council faced a tough choice, and it did the right thing."