LAist: The A&E Report: The A&E Squeeze

lizriz

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 12:20:07 -0800

Just jumped over to say, HEAR, HEAR... ticket the hell out of oversized vehicles in compact spaces. You drive an effing SUV or trunk in an effing city, you get what you asked for if you can't find a space.

Beth

Wed, 01 Sep 2004 11:46:25 -0800

This is the most BRILLIANT thing I've seen in ages! It would apply to DC drivers as well...

meat

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 15:57:48 -0800

Here at my building in Beverly Hills Standard parking the company the handles the parking situation here as just begun to cite SUV's for parking in compact spaces. Not sure if Standard Parking is doing this all over the city, but its a good start.

Jess

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 14:03:17 -0800

While I'm not volunteering to pay more for parking, the fact is that we actually pay too *little* for parking in LA. Mostly free parking with shelling out 2 bucks here and there, and coughing up more for the occasional valet do not at all begin to cover the REAL costs of parking. (Check out this article to get a better idea of what I�m talking about. http://www.vtpi.org/shoup.pdf) Patterns of human behavior sadly preclude finding a panacea to the parking problem. This is particularly true in auto-centered areas, where incentives to encourage public transit use and/or carpooling more often fail than succeed. Weaning people off their private cars is a serious uphill battle, even if there are plenty of reasons to change our habits. We do all sorts of things in our own self-interest that result in irrational outcomes, like drive at rush hour and park at the Grove during the weekend. But it's never you who's part of the problem, right? Do you try to travel on the 10 during off-peak times so that you're not contributing to traffic that other people sit in? No, you�re complaining about the a-holes and even polite drivers who are on the freeway at the same time, making life hell during your commute. It's also a question of urban design and the quality of our built environment. We can bitch about the lack of easy parking all we want, but what's the alternative? Lay asphalt for more surface parking lots that gobble up open land and build additional hideous stacked parking structures? LA is already enough of a visual mess because of the abundance of parking. Clearly I don't have an answer to this problem. I do, however, fully support being polite and parking responsibly under our shared circumstances, and am like everyone else routinely pissed off at the flouting of motorist etiquette. I plan to keep a stash of The A&E Parking Ticket handy in my glove compartment and eagerly await the first opportunity to bust it out. But to wish that additional parking will magically appear doesn't take the broader impacts into consideration.

stwsr

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 13:03:32 -0800

YEA!!!!!!!!!!!

Chrissy

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 12:10:29 -0800

Give me a solution, carkeyer. I live in Koreatown and I deal with parking problems every day. Los Angeles seems more excited about finding new ways to ticket residents than they do about finding a solution to this problem. I considered getting a Mini Cooper but its not a financially sound decision right now. Hell, I've considered moving to DC because the public transportation system there is amazing. I pay over $1000/mo for car notes, insurance, parking tickets and gas. I'd love to save that and have a convenient and easy way to get around the city. Unfortunately, that is not an option and having such a f'ed compact parking ratio is far from a real solution.

carkeyer

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 11:23:27 -0800

You are part of the problem, Chrissy.

Chrissy

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 11:10:53 -0800

I drive a large car and often find myself HAVING to park in compact parking. While I'd never park in a compact spot so small that neither of my neighbors could access their cars, parking in larger compact spots is a necessity at times. I highly doubt the creators of the lots had Good Samaritan acts in mind when they made so many compact spots. The more spots, the more $1 or $4 they rake in. The ratio is way too high especially when you have compact cars parking in both compact and full sized spaces.

$andy Kane

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 10:55:36 -0800

Brilliant! Kudos and huzzah!

Jerry Mahoney

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 10:19:10 -0800

Sorry, Ted. You get full credit for the parking ticket idea. Thanks!

Ted

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 09:33:11 -0800

Perhaps you need to acknowledge that this idea came from your highly intelligent readership :)

Plague

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 09:15:30 -0800

BEAUTY! And it shall go into use immediately.