Rather than issue a $35 fine for exceeding the limit on a timed parking spot, police might instead issue a no-charge courtesy ticket, warning drivers to adhere to the rules next time or be cited. This would only apply in situations where there are already ample parking spaces left unoccupied.

The suggestion to not ticket as aggressively has been met with enthusiasm by local merchants, who at the same time say the town should do more to address parking demands.

While it's nice that the town puts money into upgrading planter boxes and sidewalks, it would be more worthwhile to invest in building a parking structure, said Susan Linville, owner of Sue's Haute Heels on Santa Cruz Avenue.

"The planter boxes won't help us create business. The parking structure will help us stay in business," she said.

Purrsnickety/Bow Wowzer owner Ellen Wayker agrees the town should provide a free public parking lot. Pointing toward the 20 or so cars parked behind her store on a Tuesday—in a lot that can accommodate 292 cars—Wayker said she is "devastated" by the current aggressive style of ticketing when it's clear that the lots aren't full.

"This is so discouraging, having a parking lot so empty and then having them ticket the cars that are parked," Wayker said. "It's so disheartening that the town harasses consumers by ticketing them."

But if police were to pardon some drivers and ticket randomly, more people would contest their tickets, said Kurt Lemmons, owner of Upstream Flyfishing and a parking and transportation commissioner in town.

"The police have to enforce the parking ordinance at a reasonable level. I think they know how much enforcement it has to be," he said. "The parking enforcement officers are good people, sincere people, common-sense people. They're not idiots. They don't want to give tickets to anger people."

At the same time that the police department is considering easing up on issuing citations, the town has decided to hold off enforcing more colored zones.

When the town approved a downtown parking management plan in December 2001, it introduced six colored zones aimed at promoting the turnover of cars parked along the side of streets. Under the plan, drivers who exceed their time limit at a parking spot are prohibited from reparking their cars in any space within the same colored zone. Only the olive zone, which consists of streets near Los Gatos High School, has gone into effect.

Last spring, merchants sought relief from the work on streets and sidewalks by urging town officials to postpone implementing the rest of the colored zones. Shopowners feared implementation would further deter customers from driving into town.

Los Gatos­Monte Sereno Police Chief Scott Seaman reported that the next zone that's been proposed to go into effect, the pecan zone (which consists of Santa Cruz Avenue from Highway 9 to Royce Street, Village Lane and parts of Nicholson, Bachman and Almendra avenues), will not be enforced at least until after this calendar year.

"We were mindful that Los Gatos businesses were entering into the holiday shopping season," said Seaman, adding that implementing a new zone at this time might cause added confusion for those coming into town.

But Seaman also defended the program.

"We are finding that parking habits are changing," he said to the town council recently. "The biggest benefit is we have been able to regain some control of streets."

According to Seaman, the department issued 143 citations within the olive zone in January, with the numbers consistently decreasing through summer. Forty-nine tickets were written in September.

Also in anticipation of the holiday shopping season, the town plans to continue its free valet parking program, which starts after Thanksgiving and runs for four weeks.