INSIDE SCOOP
OPINION
PARENTING
PET OWNERS SHOULD STAY VIGILANT PAGE 3 WHY NOT GO TOPLESS? PAGE 4 TIPS FOR BABY BOUTS PAGE 7 Visit us online at smdp.com
TUESDAY, JULY 10, 2007
Volume 6 Issue 205
Santa Monica Daily Press LYRICAL SUPPORT SEE PAGE 13
Since 2001: A news odyssey
THE HAND SANITIZER ISSUE
PARENTING
PASSING GRADES County officials to begin rating child care facilities around town
STORY BY MELODY HANATANI PAGE 10 Fabian Lewkowicz fabianl@smdp.com
Drawing a parallel line in the sand Residents near Samohi fight for parking spots BY KEVIN HERRERA I Daily Press Staff Writer BAY STREET Steve Short and his wife will be celebrating their second wedding anniversary today, but rather than getting out of town, the couple plans to visit City Hall to ask elected officials for some parking relief. Residents like the Shorts who live just south of Santa Monica High School are calling on the City Council to approve more stringent parking restrictions in their neighborhood to prevent teen drivers and their parents from over-
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taking the streets. “It is our anniversary, but we’re going to be (at City Hall), because that is how important this is to us,” said Short, who grew up in Ocean Park and remembers when most students walked to school instead of driving. “Parents are the worst. It’s out of control entitlement issues all over the place.” For years, residents along Bay and Sixth streets have complained about high school students gobbling up all of the available parking spaces. Students and their parents often drive recklessly in search of a spot, according to the residents, running over family pets and ramming into other
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parked cars. Some have even hit people. In addition to the dearth of parking, residents said they have spotted students using their cars to smoke marijuana or drink alcohol. Others are rude, playing loud music early in the mornings and leaving trash in the gutters. In the past, petitions for preferential parking have been denied, leaving the area south of Pico Boulevard and west of Lincoln Boulevard unrestricted, while other neighborhoods were successful in pushing student parking out of their area, city staff said. The petitions, some of which were filed in 2001, were denied because the area is located in the California Coastal SEE PARKING PAGE 11
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