The Daily News has launched a set of columns devoted to explaining something that most of us encounter, deal with, but might not necessarily understand: Our LA DWP bill. more ›

The LA Weekly says "Councilman Tom LaBonge registered his own dog this week after voicing an objection to a successful City Council motion to have animal services workers go after unregistered canines in the city." For LaBonge, it is a civil liberties issue. The motion at hand lets the Department of Animal Services work with the Department of Water and Power, which "maintains a customer database of households with dogs so that meter readers and other DWP personnel can be aware of any animal issues when they are visiting a property." With the information from DWP, Animal Services employees can cross check records to see if people are paying their license fees. The move is expected to garner $3.6 million for city coffers. more ›

Without too much discussion last year, the L.A. City Council raised parking meter fees citywide to at least $1 an hour at all meters. Times were also extended, angering some businesses, especially theatres in the NoHo Arts District where patrons potentially had to leave during intermission or in the middle of the show to refill a meter. A year later, some businesses still see a drop in business with blame towards increased rates, says the Daily News: more ›

Some resourcefulness and a little money has gone a long way this past week with the city's Bikeways Department. With parking meters being replaced by the new Park & Pay system kiosks, those meters, which often doubled as handy bicycle parking, were threatened to be taken off the street. Not so fast. In key areas around the city, crews spent four nights last week reconfiguring the meters into the new bicycle meter hitches. more ›

The city is looking into installing new parking meters that could potentially bring in $1 million in additional revenue to help fill the budget gap, but officials say they don’t have enough resources to do so. LADOT told councilmembers at last week’s Transit meeting the plan would not make any money in its first year because the meters would cost $1 million to install. Additionally, officials said the department is already 18 percent understaffed in maintenance technicians, making it harder to collect money and fix existing meters. more ›

Out with the old meters, in with hand-me-down bicycle racks called meter hitches. When the city last year began replacing parking meters with the new pay station ones, that either left headless meters or no meters at all along stress, which meant less options for bicycle parking. Then last night, as part of a pilot project between the Department of Transportation and Council President Eric Garcetti's office, came 52 new bicycle meter hitches on Hollywood Boulevard between La Brea and Vine. more ›

Enforceable times at parking meters are still confusing residents as LADOT makes it way through the city updating extended times at signs and meters. The problem? Here's an example: a sign on West 3rd Street says "2 Hour Parking 8am to 6pm Except Sunday” but corresponding meters say Mon-Sat 8am-8pm and Sunday 11am-8pm, notes Tasha Nita Adams at her blog Blackburn & Sweetzer. This is an issue LAist looked at back in January and we thought all signs would be updated by now... apparently not. "It would be inappropriate [to ticket] without the new signs," the department spokesman Bruce Gilman explained back then. more ›

What's free to hybrid drivers costs the city $300,000 annually. With the budget taking a dive into the red, the LA City Council today voted to end free parking at meters for hybrids beginning in March. "Hybrid vehicle owners who park at meters during the month of February will be given written notices about the end of free parking," notes NBC. more ›

For years us Angelenos have been trained that once the clock strikes six, we're free from parking tix. But now that the city standard for enforceable parking times has been pushed back later into the day, our human habit ways are out of whack. Last night in Sherman Oaks, a cursory street poll found that people didn't pay at meters enforced until 8 p.m. with signs above saying "2 Hour Parking, 8 AM to 6 PM." more ›

Since the Fall, Los Angeles has been adjusting parking meter rates throughout the city to an increased $1 per hour rate at the minimum (you'll find some meters up $4 an hour) and they expect to be done by the end of January. Not only that, beware of the time. The days of free parking after 6 p.m. is over--numerous areas will now have meters in force until 8 p.m. The worst part of this transition is that in some areas, meters say they are enforced to 6 p.m. and the signs above say 8 p.m. What to do? What to do? more ›

Yesterday, the LA City Council voted for increases in fees for things relating to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (like the boot fee went up $30 to $150). What the majority of the city deals with are parking meters, which are going to a minimum rate of $1.00 an hour citywide (but remember, it's prorated, so a quarter is 15-minutes). more ›

Amid budget concerns, the Los Angeles City Council voted today to increase parking meter rates and to extend hours of operation. Citywide, hourly rates will be soon be at $1.00 an hour at the minimum. On the high end, some high usage areas will have rates as high as $4.00 an hour. However, you can still can deposit smaller amount of coins for prorated minutes. more ›

What's the update on these? From the Department of Transportation (.pdf): more ›