City Tests New Parking Meters

Visitors to Riviera Village for Monday's and the recent may have noticed some new parking meters along Catalina Avenue near and the .

The three-month pilot program for the new meters from San Diego-based IPS Group Inc., which are solar-powered and accept credit cards as well as coins, was approved in early April.

"We have to see if they'll hold up under the conditions that we have in Redondo Beach with the salt water, windblown sand, temperatures that go up and down and the moisture," City Manager Bill Workman said in a recent conversation with Patch.

The plan originally called for the city to install 50 meters on the west side of the Esplanade near Avenue C.

Workman said that he "didn't even realize [the new meters] were in Riviera Village," later adding that staff may have amended the program while he was busy with budget matters.

This is the second time Redondo Beach has tested new meters, Workman said. The first time, the meters were unable to withstand the ocean air and other conditions.

"Technology's really improved a lot [since then]," Workman said.

The new meters charge the same rate as the coin-operated meters on the street—$1 per hour.