Goleta: Halloween Parking Permit Program Goes Well

City officials said the parking permit program set up for Halloween went well.

The pilot program was aimed at keeping Isla Vista visitors out of some neighborhoods.

In years past, people who live in the neighborhoods near Isla Vista have complained that out-of-towners have clogged up their streets during the October holiday.

“It’s also in English and Spanish. So they would get this permit in the mail and fill out their address and vehicle license plate number,” said Vyto Adomaitis, the Goleta neighborhood services and public safety director.

More than 2,500 neon permits were mailed out to people who live within the boundaries of Cannon Green Drive to Storke Road and from the corner of Hollister Avenue and Storke to the Isla Vista boundary.

The permits allowed Goleta residents to park near their homes while keeping potential Isla Vista partiers out.

“Last Halloween, there wasn’t an inch of curb space anywhere. You couldn’t park your car, you had to park well in advance if you wanted a spot, but this year it looked like this, just a ton of open space. Everybody parking had a permit,” said Patty Makela, a Goleta resident.

Makela was happy with the program and hopes to see it in place again next October.

Adomaitis said for the first year doing this, the permit process went well.

“We saw very limited violations of people parking without a permit. There were some citations issued, there were some vehicles towed, but the vast majority of the cars that were on the street — and we checked — had permits on the windows,” he said.

On Friday and Saturday, only six vehicles were ticketed and six were towed.

Arnold Rakowski has lived in the neighborhood since the 1960s and said this Halloween was a lot different than in years past. One big change: no more trash left behind by people walking back from the college town.

“Just the mess they left. You know, beer cans, bottles, trash,” he said.

This year, there was none to be seen.

The permitting process did have some hiccups. Some residents did not get permits or needed more.

“We had a problem because we have a P.O. box delivered to. So we had to go to city hall and they gave us our permits there,” said Rakowski.

Adomaitis said if the program is implemented again, those issues will be worked out.

The City of Goleta is eager to hear from residents in an online survey. Click here to participate.

The survey closes Nov. 13.