VA workers use these streets as a parking lot. Now neighbors are getting relief

If Helen Moordigian or Suzette Peterson invite visitors into their cozy homes in an established central Fresno neighborhood, they must plan ahead and pull some strings to ensure there’s parking for their guests.

They coordinate with neighbors and set cones or their city-issued garbage cans out in the street to save a spot. If they come home for lunch, they worry they’ll either be blocked in their driveway or blocked out by other parked cars. There’s no parking for gardening or pool service contractors. If the garbage cans aren’t in the right place because cars are parked in the way, the city trash truck won’t empty them.

Their streets, East Harvard and East Brown avenues, along with others surrounding the Veterans Affairs Medical Center on East Clinton Avenue, for years have been overrun with parked cars belonging to VA employees. At least 650 employees pack their cars like sardines into the nearby neighborhood so patients and veterans can have priority parking in the hospital lot. Although most employees respect the neighborhood, a few bad apples who litter yards with trash and cigarette butts exacerbated the problem.

“I’ve lived here since I was in my 20s,” Peterson said. “We’ve always had patients who park nearby, but they don’t stay. Never was it like this. We live in a parking lot. It’s depressing.”

So the ladies took matters into their own hands.

After a community meeting in late 2017 with the Fresno Police Department, Moordigian and other residents shared with police how it was a challenge just to drive down the road since cars lined the street on either side. The parking issues also resulted in low visibility at intersections and safety hazards for pedestrians and jaywalkers.

Police Capt. Phil Cooley promised Moordigian he’d look into it, and he did. Days later, his officers surveyed the neighborhood to count the number of cars parked along the streets and began working with the city’s parking division to weigh options, realizing the residential parking district was the best route.

Moordigian and Peterson spearheaded the signature drive, gathering nearly 200 signatures from their neighbors. The Fresno City Council in June unanimously approved the district, which will be the largest parking district in the city once in effect.

“For many, many years, it has been difficult for people in these neighborhoods to do some of the basic things that the rest of us take for granted, like having work done on your house or taking out your trash cans,” said Clint Olivier, the District 7 councilmember who represents the residents. “These people, my neighbors, in this part of town have been very, very patient. I want to credit the neighbors. If it had not been for their activism, this story may have turned out differently. What’s happening now, the parking district has been approved, and those neighbors who have been waiting decades for relief are weeks away from getting it.”

The residents were excited about the approval, but, “I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Moordigian said.

After dealing with the issue for so many years, many residents have lost faith in government effectiveness.

“Our biggest concern is there will be another delay,” she said. “We want our neighborhood back.”

Parking district details

The parking district borders will be Simpson Avenue to the north; Clinton Avenue to the south; First Street to the east and Highway 41 to the west. It also will include a small area near East Vassar and East Weldon avenues.

A parking district means a permit will be required to park on the street, and only residents and their guests are eligible. Each resident will get one permit for free and can buy three additional permits for $19 each per year, said Thomas Gaffrey, the city’s parking division manager.

The city will begin installing signs Oct. 1 and enforcing the parking district rules at 7 a.m. on Oct. 15.

Gaffrey said the city is expecting to issue more than 500 permits, making the new parking district the largest, by far, in the city. Other parking districts in the city are near Bulldog Stadium, the Save Mart Center, Fresno City College and Duncan Polytechnical High School. Those parking districts together account for under 400 permits.

“This is a much larger undertaking than prior districts,” Gaffrey said. “I think that the scale and how that impacts the residents is unique. If you talk to residents in any of the (parking) districts, they’ll all talk about having the same experiences and impact of wanting to come home and park.”

Because of the district’s size, the city plans to streamline the process to obtain a permit, allowing residents to request by mail.

Olivier sent letters out last week alerting residents that the parking district soon will be in place.

“Much is said about how government is unresponsive and can’t get anything done,” Olivier said in an interview with The Bee. “That’s not true, at least with the city of Fresno. The city of Fresno is responsive to people. This is another example of people power getting something done to elevate their neighborhood in the city of Fresno. It’s to be commended.”

Where will VA employees park now?

Fresno’s VA hospital was built in the 1950s and used to be surrounded by sprawling lawns. In nearly 70 years, the city of Fresno and the hospital both have grown, erasing the lawns and replacing them with parking lots and buildings. The number of people the hospital serves also has continued to grow.

On an average day, just under 1,000 employees work at the VA facilities on Clinton Avenue, and about 1,000 guests visit the site, said Cameron Porter, a public affairs officer for the VA Central California Health Care System. Most of those people need somewhere to park. The VA gives priority parking to veterans in their lot. Over the years, the VA has created programs encouraging employees to bike to work, carpool and take the bus.

Currently, the VA already has deals giving employees options to park at two designated lots: one at the Las Palmas-Ponderosa Masonic Lodge No. 366 on Clinton Avenue and another at the Fresno Masonic Lodge No. 247 on Shields Avenue. Each location has room for about 100 cars. The site at Shields rarely fills up, Porter said, because employees opt to park in the neighborhood, which is closer. Once the parking district is in effect, VA officials expect the Shields lot to fill up.

In anticipation of the new parking district, the VA put other plans in motion. VA officials are working to secure a deal so employees can park at the former Central California Blood Center, now vacant, at 3445 N. First St. That lot will provide about 350 spaces. Another lot behind the Golden Dynasty Restaurant on Shields will provide just under 100 additional spaces.

And Fresno Housing Authority will allow VA employees to park in an empty piece of land it owns right across the street, providing up to 300 parking spots for at least two years. “The hospital is ramrodded. They have a challenging situation,” said Congressman Jim Costa, D-Fresno, who worked as a liaison on that deal.

The veterans hospital also hopes to soon begin using a valet service for veterans. A valet would greet the veteran, help them out of the car and then park for the veteran. Hospital officials hope to have the service up and running by the fall, Porter said.

Moving into the future

Olivier acknowledged the hospital’s problems may just be beginning.

“We want to be mindful that those hospital folks taking up parking, those folks are serving our veterans,” he said.

Porter said the issue will indirectly affect veterans.

“We’ve had a problem with parking for a long time. This isn’t new. The residential parking plan will increase the problem,” he said. “At any time of day, you can often see veterans doing laps around the parking lot, waiting for someone to pull out. Otherwise, they end up parking out on the street like the employees do.”

While the neighbors wait for the parking district signs to go up, they stressed their qualms aren’t with the veterans, it’s with the hospital administration and bureaucracy.

“They’re not the ones moving our garbage cans,” Moordigian said about veterans. “They don’t block our driveways. They don’t jay walk. They’re not leaving garbage in front of our homes. They don’t come at 6 a.m. with their music blaring. … This has been going on for decades, and it’s only gotten worse.”

For more permanent options, the veterans hospital for years has talked about building a parking garage on Clinton Avenue and Fresno Street across from the hospital with a pedestrian bridge to the facility. The hospital received verbal confirmation from the VA’s central office for the project, which is set to go before the VA’s capital asset board in August, Porter said. But even if approved, it likely won’t be years until the project is complete.

Fifteen or 20 years down the road, the VA is planning to build a second campus on nine acres in Clovis. That will help pave the way for future growth while easing the congestion at the Fresno hospital.

“As Fresno continues to grow, and as the veteran population continues to grow and support to veterans continues to grow, we have to expand,” Porter said. “When we’re at that point, imagine how much that will help with parking here in the city of Fresno.”

This story was originally published July 30, 2018 at 11:33 AM.