City Council Waives Parking Citations
After fielding a barrage of complaints from people angry about parking tickets issued during a city-sponsored Fourth of July celebration, the City Council offered an olive branch Wednesday by voting unanimously to dismiss the citations.
While the tickets were legal, Capt. Bill McSweeney of the Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station told the council, “It does not seem they were within the spirit of that event,” an all-day party at the Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center that featured a pool party and a petting zoo.
The council agreed.
The episode began when Councilwoman Lesley Devine noticed cars parked off the paved area of the parking lot, threatening to damage the nearby oak trees by compacting the soil near their surface roots. She summoned sheriff’s deputies, who issued tickets to about 20 illegally parked cars, and, in short order, the phone began to ring at City Hall. Mayor James Bozajian said the city received “numerous complaints.”
“The City Council is seen now as the grinch that stole the Fourth of July,” said Councilman Dennis Washburn. He suggested that, in addition to pardoning the parking violators, the city send them letters explaining that parking on tree roots endangers the tree.
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