Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
LAist's Solved Mysteries: The Grove's Eerie Sentient Parking Sensor Edition
LAist bursts onto the scene this week with our Solved Mysteries, answering the questions that plague you on a daily basis in regards to Los Angeles landmarks, technology, and just plain freaky unexplainable crap.
This week, we investigate The Grove's eerie sentient parking sensors -- a board of LED-lit numbers, that upon entering their parking structure, seemingly tell you how many spots are available on each level. It is an inconceivable technology that, as far as LAist was concerned, was a fake. Seriously, how could a parking structure (even with technology making things like super-advanced Furbys possible) have enough sensors to keep track of the amount of free versus occupied parking spots that were available?
People have weighed in with their opinions. Some have said that each parking spot has its own individual sensor beneath the granite -- well aware if there's a car parked there or not. Others have suggested that the numbers are generally not accurate, tallying the amount of cars coming in and out of the front gates. Others believe that such LED parking spot counters are, in fact, keeping track of the amount of people watching the wonderful musical fountain presentation from each level of the parking structure.
Support for LAist comes from
Alas, all were wrong.
In contacting the parking office of The Grove, LAist was served up the not-so-exact solution to our previously-unsolved local mystery. According to those who know what they're talking about, each level of The Grove's parking structure does not have sensors under each spot. In fact, each level has it's own sensor at the location where cars enter and exit that particular level.
If Level 4 has approximately 500 spots available in total, and 300 of said spots are already taken -- if there are 100 cars driving around on Level 4 (whether or not they've parked in a spot), the system will assume that those 100 cars will eventually park...thus reporting that 400 spots are taken, and 100 are free. Per The Grove, it's an inaccurate system, but at least projects how many spaces may be taken, based on those looking for spots.
In the end, those entering The Grove should be aware that even though Level 3 has 54 parking spots left and Level 4 has 123 spots left and Level 5 has 322 spots left -- that the real mystery is not how the structure knows such things, but how a place like The Grove dumped all that money into an eerie sentient parking system, that in reality, really doesn't do what it's supposed to.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist