DARRYL L. PAUL, Dana Point
I read the update on the Dana Point “Parking Implementation Plan” in your paper with much amusement. The “Plan” is but a continuation of the Town Center Plan (TCP) boondoggle of a few years back, a plan that never had a parking component save for “in lieu parking fees” that, of course, provide no parking at all.
When the TCP was in the discussion stage and included the concept of a city hall in the clock tower area of town back in 2005, I suggested to the reviewing committee and the city council that two parking structures be built – one on the vacant lot across from Killer Dana Surf Shop and another at the corner now occupied by a tattoo parlor across from the clock tower, each two stories high with a subterranean level. You’d think that I had kicked the mayor’s dog, based on the poor treatment that I received for suggesting the use of eminent domain to solve this problem.
Now the current “Task Force” sees “endless opportunities” through linguistic sophistry that, again, provides no parking at all. But monstrous buildings are under construction in the Town Center, promising further parking congestion such that, as I said in 2005, if I cannot park in the Town Center section of town, I will continue to travel elsewhere, as I cannot park my car “in lieu.” So let’s pay more money to out-of-town urban planners who can further destroy this lovely beach community with nonsense designs that transform Dana Point into somewhere else. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the comical and impractical Doheny Village design for Capo Beach. Maybe you can park there and walk to Town Center. Or not.
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