“I have been notified by the LAPD that a citywide
ordinance will begin to be enforced as of late 2006. Under the new
ordinance, an existing law will begin to be enforced which states
that “˜cars are not allowed’ to park on driveways in
front of the sidewalk.” This was the notice an apartment
manager posted for his residents.
Similar notices have landed on many Westwood doorsteps. It seems
L.A. police have decided to start enforcing laws against
“apron parking,” which is parking on the downward slope
of the driveway between the sidewalk and the street.
Though this law was already on the books and simply wasn’t
enforced regularly, it seems hard to imagine the pandemonium that
could ensue if all those apron-parked cars were unleashed on the
scarce legal spots.
If city officials don’t like Westwood residents apron
parking, there are far better solutions to that problem than to
simply cut us loose.
The police announced that the citywide ordinance will begin to
be enforced as early as November, and apron offenders will
certainly be ticketed liberally.
This would make it easier for pedestrians to use the sidewalks
and safer for cars to traverse the arteries of the apartments. But
the city should repair the fractured sidewalks, burned out street
lamps and distressed roads before it resorts to ticketing.
To enforce such harsh measures on a community that cannot help
but resort to parking illegally is outrageous, given that students
have yet to hear of any real efforts to solve the underlying
parking problem.
Los Angeles, like it or not, is a driving town. It may be fine
for some students to keep cooped up in the UCLA bubble, but many
students rely on their cars for jobs, internships, outings and just
about anything outside of UCLA.
The city could look into easing up on its agreement with the
university that effectively limits the number of parking spots on
campus to help ease the effects of ticketing apron parking
students.
The city could buy a lot among the Westwood apartments area and
convert it into a multi-level parking structure. With the
outrageous price of parking in Westwood, such a project would
likely pay for itself pretty quickly.
Nope. It seems it was all the university could do to convince
the city to hold off its enforcement until November, just long
enough to give students a chance to take the car home during the
holidays.
Now students have to scramble to find alternative parking or
arrange to take their cars elsewhere ““ or face the exorbitant
tickets the city is so fond of handing out.
It’s hard to imagine how much revenue the city makes from
parking tickets, but it would be nice if some of it could be
reinvested in improving the parking and infrastructure of the
Westwood area.
We encourage students to voice their outrage with this
situation. It worked two years ago when the backlash from a rash of
ticketing led to the LAPD taking another hiatus from apron tickets.
Let’s encourage a realistic parking solution before parking
enforcement gets to whip out those expensive slips of paper.
UCLA students already get enough parking tickets. What good will
this one accomplish?