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Calendar Feedback: Readers debate solutions to L.A. parking woes

A black-and-white photo of a woman gesturing with her hands in a crowded parking lot.
Sue Diane Blanke asks lot attendant Billy Funkhouser to get her car out of a jammed parking lot on June 20, 1955. Impossible, Funkhouser replied.
(Bill Murphy / Los Angeles Times)
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Parkin’ in L.A.

Regarding “High price of parking,” July 9: Carolina A. Miranda laments the high price of parking — but what are people supposed to do in Los Angeles, and California more broadly? Public policies, including zoning laws and regulations, must be based in reality.

Except for perhaps downtown San Francisco, downtown Los Angeles and a few other places in California, one needs a car to get around.

In many older areas of Los Angeles, where apartments were built when families only had one car, people must search for parking and find it blocks from their apartments.

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I lament the need for cars, the need for parking, our reliance on the automobile as much as anyone else. But until “15-minute cities” are built or safe bicycle paths separated from vehicular traffic lanes, as in some European countries, I don’t see a realistic alternative here.

That’s the harsh reality. When people talk or write about cars and parking, let’s get real.

Daniel Fink
Beverly Hills

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Great read! It should be required reading for everybody in government. I just watched Saigon for an hour online. Everybody is on a motor scooter, 95% of the population, all wearing helmets, most with face masks, parking everywhere. And housing all along the streets with storefronts on every building. Miranda’s writing could inspire a lot of good change.

Sam Platts
Sylmar

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Just allowing new construction with no parking will bring its own set of problems. We need comprehensive transportation infrastructure before we install unilateral car-free initiatives. We need to expedite elevated rail lines through the most heavily traveled corridors. These are faster and cheaper to build than alternatives but need politicians to support this against NIMBYism. Once Angelenos have alternatives, then we can cut parking and allow bike lanes to flourish.

Harlan Levinson
Los Angeles

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Can’t find the funnies

Simply put, your website does a great job of hiding the comics section. It does not show in any menu I have found, a search will only yield articles that contain the word, or are about a particular comic strip, etc.

And of course, articles bewailing “the death of newspaper comics” will certainly show up.

Could you possibly make it somehow easy and consistent to find?

Thanks.

Tom Dotz
Port Hueneme

Editor’s note: The comics are available to subscribers at latimes.com via the eNewspaper tab at the bottom of the homepage.
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Hold that book

I love looking at the Bestsellers list every couple of weeks in the LAT. I use the list to select books to place on hold through the Libby app at the L.A. and Pasadena public libraries. I would like recommendations for books that aren’t fresh off the presses.

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How about an article in Calendar recommending books that are old favorites? There could be different write-ups for different types of books: culture, history …. you get the idea. I love getting the printed copy.

Jan Siechert
Pasadena

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