L.A. Council kills parking lot plan

So much for the idea of leasing nine city-owned garages in an effort to net $53 million this year. The council voted unanimously to consider other ways of using the parking lots as a badly needed revenue source. There's no specific idea, but Council President Eric Garcetti wants to look into selling individual garages or somehow work with the investment arms of the city pension funds. Trouble is, L.A. budget chief Miguel Santana says that the only way to quickly pick up that $53 million shortfall is by furloughing city workers (5-8 days in his estimate), and council members continue to balk at that option. So they're basically starting from scratch: Desperately looking for $53 million before the end of the fiscal year, and not having the foggiest idea where the money will come from. The decision to drop the parking plan comes after weeks of lobbying by local business groups in Hollywood and Westwood. They argued that private operators would raise rates and result in lost business. No way of knowing whether that's true, but it obviously got the council's attention. By the way, today's vote is a bit of a slam against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who earlier this week urged the council to keep the parking lease proposal alive.