‘$7’.
The cost may be considered small depending on how it is being spent, but to pay such an amount for valet parking could be burdensome.
After finishing a dinner meeting at Chapman Plaza in the center of Los Angeles Koreatown, Choi was taken aback after finding out the cost of valet parking. He even had his parking ticket validated by the restaurant. If it were not for the validation, Choi would have been forced to pay $7 for parking. With the parking stamp, his parking fee was still $5.
Chapman Plaza is a mall that attracts the heaviest foot traffic in Koreatown as it offers a variety of dining and entertainment experiences for the visitors, including BBQ restaurant, karaoke, café and beauty salon. It has become something of a landmark. Recently, a new ownership took over the property management and has driven up the parking cost.
Business owners at Chapman Plaza are not happy about it either.
“Who would come back to the mall if they’re forced to pay $7 after drinking a cup of coffee for $3 to $4?” said one business owner. “I understand that the property owner has the right to make the decision, but it’s disappointing that the matter was never discussed with us.”
Another business owner at the mall added: “Visitors are forced to use the valet parking service starting from 2 p.m. even on weekdays and 12 p.m. on weekends. The word is spreading that our mall is a ‘scary place to park.’ We’re not some hotel in Beverly Hills. The consensus is that the parking price should be more reasonable.”
A BBQ restaurant owner at the mall said: “A customer commonly pays over $100 per table, so they often times don’t mind paying for parking, but we do get complaints from some about the parking price at times.”
Even on Yelp, it is common to see visitors at Chapman Plaza complain about the cost of parking. However, the valet parking service business that is in charge of Chapman Plaza explained that there is not much they can do about the customers’ complaints.
“We’re not hired by Chapman Plaza to provide our services,” said Charlie Chung, the owner of HW Parking that has been in charge of the mall’s parking business for eight years. “We’ve signed a contract to rent parking spaces. We have to pay 10 percent of our income to the city government and also pay our own employees. We have no other option but to charge $5 to $7 dollars per customer.”
Chung added that he is trying his best to accommodate customers on budget by offering discount until 5 p.m. on weekdays.
HW Parking reportedly pays approximately $5,000 per month to the property owner of Chapman Plaza.
“It’s difficult to understand how you could charge $7 for parking,” said one business owner on Wilshire Boulevard. “I’m worried that Chapman Plaza could potentially taint the image of Koreatown businesses among general consumers.”
The police commission at the Los Angeles Police Department has so far allowed properties with a valet parking permit to freely charge however much the owners desired.
“Companies have already agreed to charge a variety of different fees from $2 to hundreds of dollars,” said the commission. “The fee is different depending on the region and also the time of the day.”
Meanwhile, Chapman Plaza owner Arc Capital Development has yet to provide a response to the Korea Daily’s inquiry about its policies on parking.
By Brian Choi
