Westside businesses fear traffic plan will put brakes on sales

That's why owner Julien Bohbot said he "went berserk" when he read about Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to eliminate rush-hour parking on Pico and Olympic boulevards as part of a three-phase program to reduce travel times on the busy roads, especially at congested points on the Westside.

"If they want to synchronize the lights, no problem," Bohbot said. "But removing the parking makes no sense whatsoever. If it passes, it will kill every business on Pico."

Bohbot and several other like-minded Pico Boulevard entrepreneurs have joined with neighborhood groups in a coalition called Pico-Olympic Solutions, a project of the West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce that opposes the traffic plan and is looking into alternatives to ease traffic bottlenecks. Among the ideas floated: building a monorail and replacing body shops with parking structures.

Much of the opposition to Villaraigosa's plan emanates from the Pico-Robertson area, a heavily Jewish enclave that features a mix of auto body shops, dental offices, bakeries by the dozen, Israeli and Persian markets, Thai eateries, Catholic churches, synagogues and Chinese restaurants, including a kosher place with mezuzas on the doorways. The elements of this urban hodgepodge have set aside any cultural and ethnic differences to battle City Hall with a united front.

"The opposition is across the board from La Brea to Centinela," said Scott McNeely, co-chairman of the Pico Neighborhood Council. "They're going to do this at the expense of local businesses." McNeely said he surveyed local businesses and found that many feared a loss of several hundred dollars a day in sales if rush-hour parking was eliminated.

Los Angeles transportation officials have said the plan would provide consistency for drivers along two important thoroughfares where rush-hour parking restrictions are intermittent. Despite that intention, officials last month suggested that they might allow some rush-hour parking on the north side of Pico to assuage opponents.