No Special Favors

Proposals to grant at least a partial exemption from parking restrictions to members of the press in Los Angeles are as unfair as they are inappropriate.

Parking restrictions are designed to facilitate the flow of traffic and assure the fair use of available curb space. If there is inequity in the rules, then the rules should be changed. But to single out one class of motorist, in this case journalists, and grant it a special exemption is inequitable and could pose serious consequences for public safety when red curbing is usurped.

A sense of urgency about the mission of the press has been conveyed to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, which is responsible for parking enforcement, by the Los Angeles Radio and Television News Assn. of Southern California, arguing that microwave trucks used in the coverage of events cannot be parked in garages and must find curb space. The television news reporters are not alone in wanting free and instant access to curb space. There is no good reason to elevate the claim of journalists above others doing business on crowded streets.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department plans to continue ticketing those in violation of the law. So it should. And Los Angeles should reconsider an unwise concession even as journalists should reconsider an ill-considered request for special status above and beyond the law.