Parking in L.A.
Everyone knows the brutal efficiency of Los Angeles parking control personnel. We live in a crowded city and we cannot allow cars to park at whim.
But what about motorcycles, and in particular, scooters? Believe it or not, those pesky scooters help this city’s traffic problem more than all the traffic cops and ticket givers combined. Scooters don’t block intersections, clog the freeways or cut people off (that would be pure folly!).
How is it, then, that I have gotten several tickets for sliding into a legal parking spot (with money in the meter) between cars? I do not occupy a “space” by any definition--cars can come and go as they wish. If I were driving a car, I would merely add to everyone else’s problems.
There are only two possible answers to the absurdity of ticketing scooters between spaces: (1) Change the existing traffic code or (2) Educate ticketing personnel to recognize the difference between occupying and not occupying a parking place.
The city’s policies can be maddening.
CHARLES O. GEERBART
Los Angeles
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