apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Our neighbourhood, where we've lived for eleven years, is now "hot" due to the influx of some (admittedly cool) shops and restaurants. Suddenly, the "residents parking only" signs that worked so well in the past no longer seem to keep the Lexus-and-Audi hordes at bay. Which means that sometimes I'll return to the 'hood after an outing and find myself forced to park two or more blocks from the house. Have you ever carried a toddler, a purse, and a bunch of shopping bags two blocks while eight months pregnant? In the rain/snow/sleet/ice? I don't recommend it.

So yeah, I'd pay to get back the right to park on my street.

Having seen miracle mile and now the melrose/la brea area go permit I think permits are really misguided - frustrated people doing anything they can whether it makes sense or not. In these areas there are just a lot of old, multi-story apartment buildings with no parking. These used to be full of older folks who didn't drive but are now full of younger singles or couples with a car each. One 2-story apt. building can put at least 16-32 cars on a block, now imagine 5 of them, or a 4-story. And this goes on for over 10 blocks. You've got hundreds of cars without spaces even without visitors. But instead of simply fighting for non-existent spots, with permits you have to pay for that annoyance (and leave work to go down to that DMV office).

People often cite the environment or traffic as reasons for better public transportation, but parking is also a huge problem. There's simply no place for all the cars!

I guess not being a resident, nay never having really been to CA at all I am a bit confused by all the cars.

I thought one of the greatest advantages of living a city life, besides all the cool places to go, was the fact that private transportation wasn't necessary? Having only been to a handful of cities myself, (NY, Chicago, Portland, Toronto, Montreal) I've always been sufficiently able to get anywhere with their public transportation. I would have thought LA would have been right up there with the rest, even moreso because they are a leader when it comes to environmental efforts. :(

i love when posts incorporate pets but .. letting us in on the fact that your cat has a urinary tract infection? hmmm...... i do hope he/she feels better, though!

"laundry mat"?
try "laundromat"

Okay, your neighborhood permit program does two things:

1. Discourages non-residents from using local businesses. Are you seeing an influx of non-residents, or is it just that (as semolina says), the residents have more cars than can be accommodated? If you get non-residents off the streets, is there somewhere else for them to park? If not, will your local businesses prosper without trade from non-residents?

2. Puts a voluntary tax on residents who have cars and are willing to pay for the hope of a parking space. If semolina's right, it doesn't actually free up parking spaces as such. How well is Silverlake served by mass transit? If residents choose to go car-less, would they also need to move to a more convenient neighborhood?

Finding space to build some form of public or private parking would surely make more sense, since people who use it would be paying for actual parking spaces, rather than for the hope of a parking space. Does the permit program money go to fund that?

Gravity's Rainbow...you didn't even need to say that you haven't been to L.A. for those of us who live here to be able to tell that from your post.

Los Angeles is very spread out and not like other cities. At all. You absolutely NEED a car to get around out here.

Permit parking just forces local cafes, salons, etc. to go for valet parking. Is that better?

heather leaf: it's been a severe worry on my mind the last few days, so pardon the inclusion if it seemed out of place.

Daily Nuance: corrected the oft made mistake; I initially believed "laundromat" was the branded equivalent of Kleenex to tissue paper. I stand corrected.

Many of the neighborhoods here are like that. It's 2-hour parking (or 1) unless you have a neighborhood permit. And it's still hard to park (or at least it was when I had a car, which I do not miss).

Permit parking doesn't bother me. I know I probably don't want to live in that neighborhood if you need a permit to park on the street.

And if I want to visit that neighborhood, I will drive there during off hours in hopes of snagging the few metered spaces that may be available.

Call me unadventurous but I just don't like dealing with the chaos of overcrowded neighborhoods much anymore.

If I use public transporation to get there, it's a different story. But the point is, traveling to such a neighorhood is more of a real commitment.

I like being on the edge of what hasn't quite happened yet I guess.

@ jennifer in sf,

this reminds me of some issues neighbors had with that big-time romance novelist who lives in sf (I forgot her name).

I think she lived(s) in Laurel Hill. She had a bunch of cars with permits for all of them. She would leave them parked on the street all the time, only moving them from side to side for periodic street cleaning. Obviously, this took up spaces that other neighbors could use. That really pee'd the neighbors off so they used to put their dog's poop bags in her parked cars to get a message across.

Where I live (Louisville), there are requirements for the number of parking spaces available in order for a business to open or construction plans to be approved. Is something like this in place there, or is it just ignored?

if only i could trust and use and feel comfortable with public transportation here in Ellei I'd do it.
but I dont.
sucks.

Seems to me permit parking doesn't solve the problem, really. Look at the Westside - first there were meters, then there was permit parking, then they got parking structures and you still have to valet if you want to go to a coffee shop there.

In Silver Lake, I think some sort of "integrated" solution might work in some areas - for example, getting permission from schools and businesses that are only open during the day to use their lots at night. This might require some sort of liability waiver, but just throwing it out there.

I'm in E.P., and I'm pretty sure we're gonna start to get this madness in pretty short order. It's almost worth it to have the gang activity to keep people a bit uncomfortable about coming here, so we can find parking.

Here in Chicago, the neighborhoods requiring permits have resident-only parking from 6pm-6am. During the day, anyone can park there, meaning there are still spaces for business patrons. Also, residents can buy packs of visitor permits so their guests can park over night.

Having lived in an amazingly-dense part of LA for the better part of the '90s (West Hollywood, 1 block south of Sunset @ Sweetzer), I cannot imagine living without permit parking. It is absolutely vital for locals who are trying to live their lives in an area that has a constant refresh of "part time" vehicles.

Simply tweak it to locals only during peak times and time restrictions during others (as WeHo did), add a consistant enforcement agency, and it's a great solution for all involved. Anyone arguing against it has never driven 'round the block for half an hour with ice cream sitting in their grocery bag!

Where I live in Los Feliz/Thai Town/Little Armenia it's reached a boiling point. I have seen fights break out over parking. The problem is the home owners who have driveways and garages are trying to keep "apt.renters" from parking on their streets. (Did I mention that my guests have to park 2 or 3 blocks away when they come by for dinner?) There is just not enough parking. Maybe if some of the empty buildings on sunset and hollywood were converted in to below grade parking garages it would ease the problem. It's so odd really, we all pay taxes to maintain these roads so we shoud be allowed to park on them. And don't even get me started on those gated annexed areas between franklin and los feliz.....

I'm so use the the parking permit issue here in Boston. Unfortunately, I still can't find parking in my neighborhood half the time.

I'm in a situation, where the opposite side of the street is no parking from 7am-4pm, due to the fact that I live across from an elementary school. Sucks when that is the only parking I can find and have to get out of bed @ 6:45 in the morning to move my car before the school buses come, especially when I don't have to be to work until 10....ugh. Sometimes I wish the buses would just run over my car so I would have an excuse not to drive.

In Chicago we have a strange breed of resident who believes that they actually OWN the street in front of their house-permit or no permit.

These people have employed simple and complicated measures to mark parking spots during the winter time. This usually occurs after the first snow storm. They will shovel the snow from around their car into the middle of the street. Then, they will gather items from their house and place them on the spot that they cleared. These items range from empty bottles of detergent, baby buggies, saw horses, two buckets with a broom laid across them, shoes, etc. When the individual who owns (sorry, the individual who was previously parked there) returns home, either he/she or his/her spouse gets out of the car or out of the house, drags the garbage from the street and onto their sidewalk and parks in the same spot.

This ritual will be repeated throughout the entire winter, which is a large part of the year. What makes this particularly humorous is when there is no snow on the ground and the little space marking objects are still there. I think some people must think that squatters rights apply.

But the story is not always funny. I received a barely legible note once from a neighbor taped to my window warning me not to park in my neighbor's space. I was upset by this because I didn't even see any detergent bottles on the street and know for a fact that my ass shoveled about three or four parking spots on that very street. In addition to a nice portion of the sidewalk. I remember a story about a woman who was shot after trying to park in one of these spots.

Here's an article on the very subject of street ownership:
http://www.jargonchicago.com/fit_to_print/snow_chairs_parking_in_chicago.html

I don't understand how those people in very dense areas (west hollywood, miracle mile, santa monica, the west side) do it. I don't even like to DRIVE THROUGH those areas. The mid-Wilshire area, over by the old Ambassador Hotel, is just about the worse.

That note is offensive. Should people without permits sit at the back of the bus as well?

if they gonna make parking permit my area as well (which they say they want to) im for real gonna go live IN the "twin dragon". at least they have parking assigned.
:-)

my boyfriend and i share 1 parking space at our apt--and 50% of the time, another tenant is parked there. OR someone has blocked us IN our spot in the alley so we can't leave. it's frustrating... but the issue is way bigger than permits. los angeles is just not well-planned for the amount of people who live here. mass transit, parking, the COST of parking, traffic... it seems impossible to fix. i just chalk it up to 'that's what we get for living here' and leave myself an extra 20 minutes whenever i go anywhere without a lot.

We live in Miracle Mile and got rid of a car last year and switched to public transportation. We're healthier from walking and save $800/month that otherwise would have been thrown away on car payments, insurance, and gasoline.

If we need a car (which isn't that often), we rent one.