Parking Plan Targets Permit Counterfeiters

Motorists who have become adept at counterfeiting parking stickers for the city’s “permit only” areas will face a challenge this summer when the police begin a new permit program.

The current system, run by the Public Works Department, is a virtual target for abuse, police said. The stickers are undated, non-serialized and printed on black-and-white paper that is easily replicated on copy machines.

Under a new system, tentatively set to begin in July, each household in the city’s four restricted-parking neighborhoods will be required to buy a glossy new permit, numbered and color-coded, that will expire in three years.

The cost of two permits and five visitor passes will be $3 under the new program, which was approved by the City Council this week.

Some residents objected that the plan allows for too many guest passes for each household, a system that could lead to abuse by Chapman University students desperate to find parking near the school.

Students have been known to buy cars just to get the permit off the bumper, police said.

But city officials decided that the new system would dramatically cut down counterfeiting and that any associated problems could be dealt with over time.