The Venice Parking Plan's Loudest Fight Is Over a Small Lot on Pisani Place

The City of Los Angeles is reviewing a plan to put meters on roughly 200 free curb spaces on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, between Main Street and Venice Boulevard. The plan, called LA Express Park–Venice, would also upgrade about 300 existing meters and raise base rates across the Venice and Washington-Pacific parking zones. The Abbot Kinney meters were the part that made the news. At the virtual public hearing on October 27, most of the testimony was about something else: a 53-space surface lot at 2010 S. Pisani Place, known in city documents as Lot 613.

Lot 613 is free today. Under the plan it would cost $0.50 an hour. Even then it would be among the cheapest metered parking in Venice. People still argued about it more than anything else in the plan, because Lot 613 is mostly used by people who live and work nearby, not by beachgoers.

What Each Lot Would Cost

The full proposal is in a project description from the city's Bureau of Engineering. Street meters use a seasonal base rate. In the V1 and WP1 subzones, the summer rate, which runs May 1 through September 30, would rise from $2.00 to $2.50 an hour. The winter rate, October 1 through April 30, would rise from $1.00 to $1.50. The secondary V2 and WP2 subzones would move from $1.00 to $1.50 all year. Sensors would track how full each block is, so the actual rate could drop to $1 an hour or climb to double the base, up to $5.

The lots tell a more local story. These are the winter, October-through-April, figures from the city's table, which is the season Venice is in now:

Compare Lot 759 on Electric Avenue with Lot 613 on Pisani Place. Lot 759 would cost $3 an hour. Lot 613 would cost $0.50 an hour and top out at $5 for the day. The city's document says lots 613, 616 and 617 sit more than a mile from the beach. It describes the change as converting them from free, unmetered lots into managed parking "to encourage vehicle turnover." Lot 613's hours would also be extended to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, which reaches into evening programs at nearby cultural venues.

The plan does keep one familiar weekly routine. Lot 701 on Dell Avenue would stay completely free on Fridays from 7 a.m. to noon for the Venice Farmers' Market.

A Lot That Serves Readings, Rehearsals and Walk Streets

The Free Venice Beachhead's account of the hearing explains why the cheapest change in the plan drew the most testimony. According to the Beachhead, speakers described Lot 613 as the main parking for four neighbors: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, SPARC (the Social and Public Art Resource Center), Pacific Resident Theatre, and the Safe Place for Youth community garden. They said the lot does not serve beach visitors.

The Beachhead reported that Jimi Vega, executive director of Beyond Baroque, asked the city to deny the permit for Lot 613. He said the organization's 1906 historic building has no on-site parking, and that meters would hurt seniors and students who come to evening events. Marilyn Fox, artistic director of Pacific Resident Theatre, said the theater serves 12,000 patrons a year and called the lot next door an essential lifeline, according to the same account. Cory Martin of SPARC noted that the local arts organizations together have served Venice for more than 150 years.

Neighbors raised a second issue, and it explains why a $5 daily maximum still drew so much concern. The Beachhead reported that residents of Oakwood, Amorosa Place, Brooks Avenue and Superba Avenue testified that many nearby homes have no driveway and no street parking. They said paid parking at Lot 613 would push cars onto residential streets that are already crowded and often blocked by construction, filming or street cleaning. One Superba resident described the lot as the neighborhood's only "release valve" on narrow streets with parking on one side. Several speakers asked for residential permits if the city adopts the fees.

Speakers also raised the lot's neighbors and the state's coastal rules. A second parcel of Lot 613 sits directly behind Fire Station 63. Speakers asked the city to protect that parking, keep the ADA access points, and repair buckled sidewalks. Several argued that removing free parking conflicts with California Coastal Act Sections 30213 and 30253, which they described as protecting lower-cost visitor access and special communities, the Beachhead reported.

The Abbot Kinney Argument, From Both Sides

Testimony about the boulevard itself was more mixed. That makes sense, because Abbot Kinney is where the city's turnover reasoning fits most clearly. The Beachhead reported that an Abbot Kinney property owner spoke in favor of meters to encourage turnover, and a community member called demand-based pricing sound economics. A store manager on the boulevard argued that meters would make the street less welcoming to shoppers.

Brennan Lindner, speaking for the Venice Chamber of Commerce, asked about the people who work on the street. According to the Beachhead, he requested monthly permits for retail workers and asked the city to clarify how meter enforcement would work and whether tickets could stack up along Abbot Kinney. Under the city's proposal, none of the six existing municipal lots on its rate table offers a monthly rate. That gap explains the Chamber's request. Anyone working an eight-hour shift on Abbot Kinney would be choosing among street meters priced by demand, beach lots at up to $25 a day, or the inland lots more than a mile from the beach.

The two debates meet on the side streets. A Brooks Avenue resident warned that longer meter hours would push visitors into the neighborhoods, the Beachhead reported. A lifelong Venice resident argued that Lot 613 is too far from Abbot Kinney to affect shopping demand there, so charging for it would mostly fall on neighborhood regulars.

The plan also includes infrastructure that will change how parking looks on the street: in-ground and pole-mounted occupancy sensors, card and tap-to-pay meters, up to 30 pedestrian wayfinding signs pointing to Venice Beach, the Venice Canals and Abbot Kinney, and up to 20 vehicle signs directing drivers to municipal lots. For anyone who parks on Abbot Kinney for a coffee or a fitting, the new routine would involve an app. Yo! Venice and the Westside Current both covered the meter and rate changes before the hearing.

Where the Plan Stands, and the November 24 Deadline

Everything above is still a proposal. The city's Coastal Development Permit page says the City Engineer is reviewing application CDP-26-002-BE. Because the project area falls in both the single and dual permit zones of the Coastal Zone, it needs decisions from both the City Engineer and the California Coastal Commission. The process from here:

1. Written comments must be received by end of day November 24, 2026. Send them by email to [email protected], or by mail to the Bureau of Engineering, Environmental Management Division, 1149 S. Broadway, Suite 600, Mail Stop 939, Los Angeles, CA 90015-2213, attention Lauren Rhodes.
2. The hearing record. The Bureau said a recording and the presentation slide deck from the October 27 meeting would be made available afterward. The full application and exhibits can be reviewed at the same Broadway office.
3. The City Engineer's decision. According to the Beachhead, public testimony goes into a staff report before the decision. A 10-day local appeal period to the Board of Public Works follows, and then the Coastal Commission reviews the project.

If you write in, use the city's address above. The Beachhead's story lists a different email address and mail stop, and the city's permit page is the official record.

Venice storefronts turn over quickly, as our earlier posts on Rose Avenue's turnover and Abbot Kinney's dinner hours describe. Whatever the city decides for the Pisani Place lot will affect how people get to a Beyond Baroque reading or a Pacific Resident Theatre performance.

At The Salazar | Bunnell Group, we follow how changes like these affect daily life on specific Venice blocks, including where a guest parks and how far a walk-street home sits from the nearest open space. If you want to talk through how the Abbot Kinney and Oakwood corridors are changing, our Venice page is a good place to start, and we're always glad to hear from you directly.