In response to angry merchants along Grand Avenue who say they are frustrated by the city's parking policies, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan has now called for a series of new actions connected to the city's parking and enforcement measures.

First, Quan said, she is asking City Administrator Deanna Santana to clarify the city policy on charging in city parking lots and garages.

Quan also wants, "To rescind any parking tickets to disabled parkers in city lots and garages for the last two weeks and to refrain from ticketing parkers with legal disabled placards until the policy is clarified and properly noticed."

Quan found out from Grand Avenue merchants that Oakland has recently begun a new policy of charging and issuing tickets to disabled placard holders if they don't pay when parking in city lots.

Late last week, the mayor was caught up in the unexpected dust up with local merchants when she took a public stroll down Grand Avenue, near Lake Merritt. It was supposed to be a friendly walk in the shopping district to highlight Small Business Month for local media. Instead, Quan found herself answering a series of questions around the city's parking policies.

The press briefing began quiet enough at Ford's Fine Furniture as Quan chatted brightly with some merchants, but it took a sharp sour turn as Quan, trailed by television news cameras and print reporters, was confronted at Walden Books by several Grand Avenue business owners unhappy with a plethora of city parking rules.

The merchants surrounded Quan and peppered her with questions and comments about Oakland parking regulations and enforcement measures. In addition to the issue around disabled parking, the mayor heard about aggressive enforcement actions, arrogant parking officers and policies that discourage residents from parking in the district.

The television cameras that were invited to the event began filming the conflict in earnest. This was clearly not the promotional event the mayor wanted.

Soon the events took on a circus atmosphere on the normally quiet street, as more business owners came out of their stores to watch the action. Shoppers also stopped and stared, occasionally offering their own thoughts and feelings about the city's parking rules. Most were not fans of the city's parking rules.

Grand Avenue has always lead the way on business anger over parking rules and enforcement - it was ground zero in a debate two years ago about extending parking hours - a fact not lost on Councilwoman Pat Kernighan who was also caught up in the storm.

In a press release issued after the confrontation, Quan apologized for the city's actions around parking for the disabled.

“I am disappointed that an attempt to be more consistent in the citation of vehicles was not handled with more public notification and consideration and (I) intend to put in place administrative policies that will prevent future situations like this,” she said.

The mayor also said that the city is in the process of using new grants to begin a citywide parking study to recommend an overall policy that addresses strategies for parking areas, rates and times.

Quan is calling on the resurrection of the Parking Task Force including  representatives from the Oakland Merchants Leadership Forum and neighborhood leaders from across the city.

The mayor urged anyone with a legal disabled placard who received a ticket on a city parking lot for nonpayment between Aug. 22 to Sept. 1 to contact Noel Pinto, Parking Manager, at (510) 986-2688 or npinto@oaklandnet.com.