The A&E Report - The No Parking Zone

Two qualities that can be found in ample and regrettable supply among Angelenos are arrogance and a sense of entitlement. You see it all the time, people who feel like the rules don't apply to them, who think they can get away with things the rest of us would never stoop to attempt. Sometimes, their actions cause direct harm or gross inconvenience to other people. More often, they just piss us off. We may pray constantly for their eventual comeuppance, only to sigh with the knowledge that more often than not, behavior like theirs is rewarded in our city. Is there no one to stand up for the good guys? Well, now there is. And so we institute the A&E Report in an effort to chronicle the arrogance and entitlement that makes our lives just a little more aggravating and to put the jerks on notice that their comeuppance has just come up.

Today's A&E Report centers on people who think they can park wherever the hell they want. L.A. is basically one giant parking lot, with the occasional apartment building, business establishment or roadway in between, so parking etiquette is essential to the common good. The problem is that L.A. is also one giant crowded parking lot, and sometimes we lose our patience trying to find a good spot. For most of us, that means parking far away from our destination, or paying more money for a valet or a private lot. But for the arrogant and entitled, a shortage of spots isn't a problem at all. They simply create parking where none exists.

Take the Beverly Center, for example. Although there are signs clearly posted saying parking is only allowed in marked spaces, it's a virtual guarantee that whenever you go, you'll find a string of cars lined up directly alongside the escalators. The A&E drivers not only refuse to take the time to search for legitimate parking, but they end up with better spots than the rest of us. Very often, they're directly behind actual parking spaces, making it harder for people who parked legally to back up when they want to leave. Maybe it's time for the Beverly Center to start enforcing their own parking regulations so no one can get away with this anymore.

The Beverly Center is merely one example. Virtually anywhere in this city where there's parking, there are parking abuses. Special parking privileges in this city should be reserved for the pregnant and disabled, not the arrogant and entitled. Just because you don't get towed doesn't make it okay. It's arrogance and entitlement, and we're on to you.