It’s well known that parking LA is a nightmare. However, there’s a movement brewing to reform the parking system.
Local activist and folk hero Jay Beeber is the man who persuaded the City Police Commission to cease LA’s program of red light cameras. He presented research, based on thousands of hours of personal work, demonstrating the red light cameras were not only unfair, but failed to improve safety. The Police Commission agreed, and voted not to renew the program in 2012.
Now Beeber has turned his focus to parking enforcement. His argument is that the parking enforcement regime is motivated not by promotion of efficient parking or public safety, but by the city’s need to fill its empty coffers. Indeed, in 2012 Los Angeles made over $150 million on parking tickets, which was used to fill a massive void in their budget.
In November, Beeber started the Los Angeles Parking Freedom Initiative. The website lays out the problem, “Parking enforcement must be exercised as a necessary and vital service rendered in the public interest, not as a business opportunity to be exploited by the City for profit,” and offers solutions, “Mandate a reorientation of parking policy from an emphasis on revenue generation to policy driven by public service.”
To raise awareness on the issue, a benefit concert will be held in Pasadena on Thursday, February 6th from 6pm-12am. Music promoter Nick Renzi is a member of LAPFI and managed to convince 72 North to host the concert.
“To me, it all comes down to the DMV holds,” Renzi says. “If you can’t pay your tickets, or if you want to contest them, the DMV puts a hold on your registration so you can’t drive until you pay the high fines. That’s not reasonable.”
The concert will include some well-known local bands, including Neo-Soul singer Juliet Annerino and Pink Floyd cover band Northern Strangers. T-shirts and stickers will be on sale. Cover is a suggested $10.
Angelenos who can’t make the concert can wait for the rally, which is scheduled to take place outside an LADOT enforcement office in Koreatown on February 21st.
