— Photo By TJ Sullivan —
After scads of complaints from places like North Hollywood, where theatergoers can't even enjoy a show without ducking out to feed the meter (technically they're supposed to move their car after whatever time limit is stated on the sign), the Los Angeles City Council today asked for a parking meter report.
Yes, the whole price-increase thing was kinda sorta the council's call when it approved this year's budget, but, uh, well, um ...
Forget that any LA driver could have predicted the public's resistance. In fact, Don Shoup, an urban planner at UCLA, explained last month that the aversion drivers have toward paying for parking might encourage more people to carpool, a silver lining that's directly tied to the silver lining our pockets.
Nonetheless, the city's Department of Transportation appears to have been caught off guard. Amir Sedadi, assistant GM of the city DOT, apologized to the council today and said his department would report back in three months with an analysis about how the new meters affect businesses.
If you listen closely you might still be able to hear merchants in places like Westwood Village and North Hollywood screaming "THREE MONTHS!"
In the meantime, it would appear that the city isn't going to forgive all those parking tickets that are sure to paper the windshields of countless drivers who surely won't bother to check signs for new hours of enforcement because they expect the hours to be same as they've always been. They'll assume that the meter maids lay off at 6 p.m., or that they don't start until 10 a.m., or whatever the case may be.
Where else did you think that $11 million in projected revenue was going to come from? The meters?
Even if drivers glance at the updated signs, many probably won't notice the change. Remember those nine-minute meters in Santa Monica?
— TJ Sullivan in LA
Other Parking Related Posts:
My $36.50 Parking Education
Fighting Signs with Signs
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