Rush-Hour Parkers: Now You See Them, Now You Don’t

Seemingly out of nowhere, they start to swoop down at 3 in the afternoon on busy streets throughout Los Angeles, like mechanical insects ready to gobble up their prey with claws, chains and steel bars protruding menacingly out their tail ends.

They feast on a smorgasbord of scofflaws, directed by a fleet of little cars with flashing yellow lights, operated by men and women in blue jumpsuits and walkie-talkies.

This is a marriage of brawn and authority: tow trucks and parking enforcement officers, together the unsung heroes of homebound travelers and the bane of motorists who either didn’t see, or didn’t believe, those signs that proclaim simply enough:

“Tow-Away Zone.”

“I put some money in my meter, came back 10 minute after (the parking ban took effect) and my car was gone. It’s like they were sitting there, waiting for me,” complained Roger Freier, up from Newport Beach for what he thought would be an uneventful shopping trip along Olvera Street.

Total Penalty

Freier grumbled while standing in line at an impound yard on Temple Street to retrieve his car--after first paying a $53.50 towing charge, a $9 storage charge and still facing a $53 parking citation for parking in a no-parking zone. Just that fast, Freier faced a $115.50 surcharge on his shopping excursion.

Most parking violators are like Freier--shoppers, tourists or businessmen who only occasionally come to Los Angeles and are unfamiliar with the rush-hour tow-away program. Others, though, should know better--such as the driver of city vehicle No. 16139, who not only left his vehicle parked on 1st Street during rush hour the other day, but in a red zone to boot.

The vehicle was ticketed and towed away. “It would be a shame,” said Clarence Carson, the city’s parking enforcement manager, “to leave that one car there blocking traffic after we’ve towed the others away.” And he suggested that the guilty employee would be easy to spot as he walked into the city garage--”with his chin hanging down to his belly button.”

Every weekday afternoon starting at 3, up to 35 parking enforcement officers and dozens of tow truck operators drive up and down at least 50 miles of city streets--in downtown, West Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and elsewhere--where the curb lane is used for parking during midday but where parking is prohibited during the early morning and late afternoon in order to free up another lane for rush-hour traffic.

There’s not much tow-away activity in the morning, since most businesses and stores aren’t open between 6 and 9 a.m. to attract curb-side visitors. But come afternoon, it’s a race against time as the city’s enforcement officers--including a special team assigned solely to clear traffic lanes of illegally parked cars--start their engines and hit the streets in advance of the oncoming traffic tide.

Pride in Work

“I take pride in my work, in removing cars from a street and getting the rush-hour traffic moving down the block,” says 38-year-old Albert Armijo, who is called John Wayne by his peers and has the physique of a body builder and the smile of a fellow who just won the lottery. “I can see the service I’m doing for the community, of getting people home 20 minutes earlier than they would otherwise if the cars were still parked along the curb, blocking a lane of traffic.”

Armijo is one of 21 special enforcement officers--civilians, not police--employed by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s office of parking management. The group was organized 14 months ago to supplement regular parking enforcement officers in order to improve traffic flow during rush hours. The team keeps tab of its success, not unlike pilots keeping track of enemy aircraft downed in combat.

3,000 Cars a Month

Each month, the rush-hour crew cites about 3,000 cars for illegal parking during rush hour, and then stays on the scene while tow trucks drag the vehicles off to the impound yard. Depending on which part of the city the infraction occurred, the car is towed away by one of 17 companies that have franchise agreements with the city to tow and impound the vehicles. The towing and impound charges are set by the city, not by the individual tow companies.

Carson notes that even one illegally parked car on a block can cause grief to rush-hour traffic. It not only effectively slows the traffic flow by a third or more on a three-lane street, but causes a hazard to motorists in the curb lane who suddenly have to merge into the next lane to avoid the parked vehicle, thereby slowing traffic even more.

Travel Time Cut

When Broadway downtown was posted no-parking all day long during the Christmas season last year, Carson noted, motorists were able to travel from Olympic Boulevard to 2nd Street--a nine-block stretch--in 12 minutes, compared to the normal travel time of about 40 minutes when curb-side parking is allowed.

Carson estimates that there are enough parking enforcement officers and tow trucks on duty on any given day for a motorist to assume he has an 85% chance of being ticketed and a 50% or greater chance of being towed away if he parks in a tow-away zone during rush hour. The no-parking hours vary from street to street, starting as early as 3 p.m. along some major thoroughfares, not until 4 p.m. on others.

The parking enforcement team’s activities draw amazed glances from passers-by, as tow trucks put on their flashing amber lights, execute quick U-turns in traffic, pull up to the target vehicle, attach its front or rear end to either a chain hoist or wheel lifters and pull off with their prize, typically in less than two minutes.

Released if Owner Shows Up

If the vehicle’s parking brake is on, the tow truck operator slides a thin metal device into the door to unlatch the lock, in order to get into the vehicle and release the brake. That takes from five seconds to a minute.

If the vehicle’s owner shows up before the car is towed away, it is released to him, although he still faces the $53 fine.

Once the car is ticketed, its license number is reported to determine if it has five or more long-overdue parking tickets; if so, the car is held until all outstanding parking fines are paid.

The person who discovers his car missing when he returns to an empty spot might wonder if it was stolen or towed away; in either event, he’ll likely call the Police Department, which will refer him to the impound yard handling vehicles on that particular block.

Mutter a Lot

And so these people get a ride to the impound yard--oftentimes in another tow truck. They’ll line up at the window, pay their fine in cash or by credit card--which carries an $8 surcharge--and mutter a lot.

Robert Grant of San Gabriel was fuming over his citation and waiting to retrieve his vehicle. He said he had been waiting at City Hall for six hours to pay a small fee, when “I come out at 3:42--12 minutes after the no-parking started on that street--and now I’ve got to pay $53.”

Make that $115.50.

Guy Hollingsworth came from San Fernando to Los Angeles City Hall “for a meeting that was supposed to last 10 minutes, and lasted an hour and a half.” Again, $115.50.

Edward Gonzalez groused because his car had been stolen, and he himself found it parked on a city street. He called police, he said, to come to the scene, and was told to wait for an officer. After two hours, he left to call the Police Department again and this time was told he could drive it off, he said. He returned to his car--only to discover that it had just been towed away. Another $115.50.

And consider the predicament of Jutta Schmidt and Detlef Moller, here from West Germany to get married. They parked on 1st Street, oblivious to the tow-away warning sign but dutifully putting a quarter in the meter. They ran into the county clerk’s office to get a license, and returned to find their car gone. They hitched a ride to the impound yard--in a tow truck--and retrieved their car, just in time to return to the courthouse for the marriage ceremony.