CRENSHAW : Parking Ban on Sundays Expanded

To discourage cruising, the City Council voted last week to prohibit vehicles from stopping or parking along the north end of the Crenshaw corridor between 39th and 28th streets on Sunday nights.

The parking ban, which has been in effect on Crenshaw from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard south to the Inglewood city limits for more than a year, is in effect.

Capt. Sandy Wesson of the Police Department’s South Traffic Division said the move is needed to curb what he called an increasingly dangerous cruising scene. “In the past, it was mostly kids out having a good time, but in recent months, we’ve had more incidents of violence, just a different breed of cruiser,” he said. “This (no-parking law) won’t stop cruising altogether, but it’ll help the situation.”

Regular cruiser Chae Gross, 21, said he thinks the new parking ordinance will not dampen cruising in the least. “It won’t stop it at all,” he said. “All people have to do is stop on side streets. They’re going to do what they do anyhow.”

Dennis Easter, night manager at The Boys market at Crenshaw Boulevard and Rodeo Road, agreed with Gross: “It might help a little with the street traffic, but the kids parking in the store lot will still keep away regular customers. What we really need are more police.”