EYE ON SC
Parking Problems
After tragedy, questions rise about safety of city parking lots By Jim Shilander San Clemente Times
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tragic accident forever altered the lives of two families earlier this month. But while a final legal determination regarding the death of Paul Michelena is still to come, questions about the safety of the parking lot he died in, as well as others across the city, have been raised in the wake of the loss of a husband and father. On October 11, just hours after the city celebrated the annual San Clemente High School homecoming parade down Avenida Del Mar, police received a call at 4:45 p.m. that a man, later identified as the 46-yearold Michelena, had been struck and run over by a truck in the Ralphs parking lot at 903 S. El Camino Real. Michelena was with his 11-year-old daughter, Chani, the youngest of his four children, at the time of the accident, but the girl was unhurt. The investigation into the accident is still underway but nearing its final stages, Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Jeff Hallock said Tuesday. It is still not clear whether the driver of the truck will be charged with anything, or whether there could be a finding of negligence, Hallock said. The name of the driver has not been released.
Father, Husband Remembered In a written statement, wife Lisa Michelena remembered her husband as a kind person with an outsized personality. “Paul Michelena was my moon, my stars and sunshine, my heart, my soul, my everything,” she wrote. “Paul was a beautiful soul who touched every person he met. He was vibrant, jovial and determined Lisa and Paul Michelena. with a personalCourtesy photo ity ‘larger than life.’ He was goofy, intelligent, selfless and loved spending time with his friends and family.” A former Marine, Michelena later moved into information technology, where he combined a childhood love of electronic gadgets with an innate sense of creativity, his family said. Michelena and his wife, Lisa, were married at Casa Romantica in 1996, and, after San Clemente Times October 31-November 6, 2013
Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputies and the Major Accident Reconstruction Team investigate the fatal accident that killed Paul Michelena in the parking lot at Ralphs grocery store in San Clemente October 11. Photo by Andrea Swayne
“Most parking lots are not designed for pedestrians. They’re designed for cars. At some point, a pedestrian needs to leave whatever pedestrian accommodations are made.” —Brenda Miller a decade in Modjeska Canyon, moved back to San Clemente in 2008. The couple had three children together, Jean-Luc, Frankie and Chani. Michelena also had a son, Terrence, from a previous relationship. A memorial trust fund has been set up by the family, and a “Party for Paul” is being held Friday, November 1 at Tequila’s Chophouse and Cantina at 215 S. El Camino Real in San Clemente. Information about the trust fund and remembrances can be found at www.paulmichelena.com. Questions About Safety The death of Michelena is the third vehicular death in the city since July. On July 4, Marthann Demchuk, a 76-year-old grandmother from Monrovia, was struck by a hit-and-run driver while walking along Coast Highway near Camino Capistrano close to the San Clemente/ Dana Point city line. In the early morning hours of September 8, former SCHS football player Nick Pasquale was killed when he was struck by a vehicle near Camino de los Mares and Calle Nuevo while returning home, on foot, from a party. What differed with Michelana’s death was that it took place in a parking lot, not on a street, as was the case in the two other deaths. Michelena’s death comes as the grocery store completed its first full year of operations in its current configuration, after several years of controversy over expansion proposals. San Clemente Chief of Police Services John Coppock said he was not aware of any higher volume of calls or incidents in
the Ralphs parking lot or other lots in the city. He asked, however, that people in the city try to be patient in the future. “It’s just common sense,” Coppock said. “You need to be aware of your surroundings, but it’s also just basic stuff, like being courteous.” The original, larger proposal for the Ralphs building, named the “Village Courtyard” project, was rejected by the City Council in 2009. The proposal included a much larger building, 70,000 square feet, of which 40,000 would be the Ralphs store. That proposal would have included a multi-level parking structure with an elevator to take shoppers down to the store’s entrance. The plan also called for an additional “controlled entrance” (one with a traffic light) to the structure. The current lot has only one, located at the corner of El Camino Real and Avenida Barcelona. Wayne Eggleston, who voted against the proposal when he was on the City Council, said he considered the proposed parking at that site to be too hard to maneuver in, aside from logistical concerns he had with the need for the elevator. Eggleston said he was unaware if anyone had objected to the safety of the final proposal for the lot. Former councilman Jim Dahl, who voted in favor of the Village Courtyard proposal, said he thought the current lot could be aided by losing a couple of spots and instead moving to angled parking, but said he too was not sure whether the design of the lot could have been improved. “Hindsight is always 20-20,” Dahl said. “Maybe the two controlled entrances
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would have helped, but parking lots are parking lots.” The current and final design, he said, met all of the city’s applicable standards. Dahl said he’d heard anecdotally from residents who use the store about the need to be attentive and careful. “It’s an absolute tragedy for the family,” Dahl said. Councilwoman Lori Donchak also voted against the proposal in 2009. Since the accident that killed Michelena, Donchak said she had heard from a number of residents who had powerful emotional reactions to the accident. Additionally, Donchak said a number of other residents shared stories about difficulties in other grocery store parking lots such as Trader Joe’s off of Camino de los Mares on the north side of the city and the Albertson’s near San Clemente High School. Because the lots are private property, the city is limited in terms of what it might be able to do, but she said, safety could be a factor in future deliberations. Currently, the city relies on members of the Planning Commission to also serve as traffic commissioners. During the height of the Ralphs debate, Donchak was a member of a traffic task force in the city, which was allowed to disband in 2011. Donchak said she would be open to seeing the return of a task force if the city felt it was warranted, noting a number of its past successes, such as changing the parking configuration at the high school in partnership with the Capistrano Unified School District and providing sidewalks at the Avenida Palizada underpass. Former Planning Commission chairman Lew Avera said commission members had some concerns about the initial designs of the Ralphs parking lot, specifically about providing a safer entrance into the store. This concern was addressed with the addition of a crosswalk that includes night-time illumination. Avera also said the commission took pains to make sure landscaping and lighting designs in the lot took safety into account. Brenda Miller, a former planning commissioner and non-motorized transportation advocate, said she shopped at the Ralphs location and had not had any close calls with vehicles or overly aggressive drivers, but said if an adult was struck and killed by a vehicle, it was clear speed had to be something of a factor. Efforts made to assure the safety of the lot didn’t change some fundamental facts, she said. “Most parking lots are not designed for pedestrians,” Miller said. “They’re designed for cars. At some point, a pedestrian needs to leave whatever pedestrian accommodations are made.” Miller, who was herself a member of the traffic task force with Donchak, said she would like to see an independent streets committee established that would focus on traffic and efforts to encourage the use of non-motorized transportation in the city. SC Andrea Swayne contributed to this report www.sanclementetimes.com