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Seeking to address longstanding community complaints about illegal parking, the East Palo Alto City Council approved on Tuesday the first iteration of a revived Residential Parking Permit program that may offer two free parking permits to each residence and community petition options for permit zones.
The council voted 4-1, with Council member Carlos Romero dissenting, to advance the effort, which had sparked significant community debate in recent months.
Romero, as well as other council members, were in favor of greater enforcement of existing parking restrictions. But the majority of the council expressed support for the presented ordinance that reflected its early iterations, relying upon community feedback.
“I support a framework that is not punitive,” Vice Mayor Ruben Abrica said. “People should not be forced to have a permit.”
City staff presented on the framework for the first time since July 2025, when crowds of residents protested at a council meeting and successfully paused the prospective ordinance.
Based on feedback from the community, the ordinance removed automatic implementation of parking permit zones in congested areas, reinstated the option for residents to petition for permit zones in their neighborhoods and added implementation review opportunities for the City council, the Public Works and Transportation Commission and members of the public.
Council members unanimously expressed support for the more rigorous engagement process and recommended that households be allowed two or more free permits depending on neighborhood space. Despite their positive reviews, council members indicated that they were in no rush to push the ordinance.
“This is just another tool that we might want to implement down the road. …There’ll be several meetings involved. There’ll be a lot of community outreach. We do want to do a parking study city-wide,” Mayor Webster Lincoln said.
Residents applauded the council in December 2025 for hiring an outside company to provide around-the-clock parking enforcement, in an effort to address overcrowded streets while reducing the burden on a low-staffed police department. The resolution came after community members lodged ongoing complaints about oversized vehicles, abandoned cars and illegal parking, but the contract approval has been slow moving.
City Manager Melvin Gaines said he hopes the company will begin public outreach and educational efforts in March, before beginning enforcement in April.
“I would echo what council member Romero said,” said Council member Mark Dinan. “I think we want to have a lot of data about enforcement before we would impose parking permits.”
Since the parking permit program was researched and recommended in a 2020 citywide mobility study, the ordinance has experienced many changes.
The city council began working with the community to build the ordinance in 2023, and a November 2024 version of the program aimed not to create new laws but allow residents to apply for permit zones in more congested neighborhoods – providing at least one free permit per household. Following the application, City staff planned to survey parking data in the applicant’s neighborhood, take resident surveys, host Public Works and Transportation Committee and council meetings to modify or adopt the resolution and send notices to residents. The city council would have also been able to engage in this process.
That plan completely changed in March 2025 during the first reading of the ordinance, when Lincoln, Dinan and Council member Martha Barragan voted to make the City Council the sole body that can create permit zones in neighborhoods with on-street parking that are at least 75% full during peak hours. The three also decided to remove community outreach surveys and resident support benchmarks to streamline parking restrictions. Council members Abrica and Romero were not present at that meeting.
Today, some community members still favor the fast-moving process that avoids layers of bureaucracy.
“I’m also concerned that the current draft of the ordinance requires neighborhoods to petition for coverage,” Isabel Lopez Ysmael said during the public comment period on Tuesday. “This approach places an undue burden on residents, and it will require them to organize.”
At the second reading in July 2025, however, community members pressured the council to pause the implementation of the ordinance and rethink its parameters.
While residents’ public disapproval of the ordinance was not as poignant on Tuesday, many still called on the council to ensure the implementation process is transparent and reflects the diverse community of East Palo Alto.
“[Residents] have big families,” resident Mike Francois said Tuesday. “You cannot tell them they can only have two cars in their driveway or on their property. You don’t have that authority to restrict people on how many vehicles they can have. You need to work with the people.”
City staff will consider meeting feedback and return to the council for a second presentation of the ordinance in the coming months.
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