Scehdule 11, 2007 – 2008 City Budget, pg. 216 (pg. 329 of .pdf)
The Special Parking Revenue Fund receives all monies collected from parking meters and City-owned parking lots in the City in accordance with Division 5 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code. Fund monies may be used for the following purposes: 1) purchasing, leasing,installing, maintaining, operating, regulating and policing of parking meters and metered spaces, collection of meter revenue and related expenses; 2) the purchase, improvement, and operation of off-street parking facilities; 3) the painting and marking of streets and curbs required for the parking of motor vehicles within parking meter zones; 4) repayment of borrowed City funds; and, 5) thepayment of debt service costs incurred for off-street parking facilities. In June 2001, the Special Parking Revenue Fund Ordinance was amended to provide that Fund monies may also be used for City employee parking and to specify that the revenues generated therefrom shall be deposited into the City Employee Ridesharing Fund. Off-street parking facilities financed from the Special Parking Revenue Fund should be in close proximity to the business districts in which parking meter zones are established and should be paid from the receipts of parking meters installed in those business districts.”

While in New York I usta have one part of my little comedy set talking about funding for MTA. My best idea was for MTA to have a bar car on every train and charge accordingly. It would pay handsomely, provide great publicity and like any bar, would have more than enough to afford bouncers on board to chuck the schmucks.

Maybe Metro could take a hint to make up for their recently lost state transit funds, eh?

“If the powers that be provided a better bus or mass transit system for working people then maybe the freeways wouldn’t be so crowded with wealthy people in their Rolls Royce’s.”

The buses are stuck in traffic because autos and auto-oriented land use policies rule this city-region whether it be the South LA or the San Fernando Valley. People in LA practically riot when this “right to drive” is challenged, until this doesn’t change…people will continue spending 77 cents on transportation for every dollar it saves on housing (US Labor Stats). This personal money could be spent elsewhere, or saved.

God forbid the idea of making real bus lanes at street level…thus making public transit more efficient. People would call for a recall…like they did in Bogota, Colombia.

People get all pissed off about having to pay for parking, but trust me, you pay for it anyway if there is no meter. All the “free parking” in front of those mega-stores is paid for by the owner of the building, who passes those costs on down the line to you, the customer.

Parking passes on college campuses are super expensive because (Gasp!) colleges are making car users directly pay for the debt and costs associated with the parking lot/garage they use.

All that vacant black top makes me think of a few good uses: extended parks; bike parking (you can fit 12-13 bikes in ONE car spot); benches, tables, outdoor plazas; wider sidewalks; places for buses to pick-up and drop-off passengers smoothly; and I could go on.

Mobility is not the same as making everything car friendly.

Oh and Metro_Vaquero, working class folks use everything from the bus, their feet, cars, trains and bikes to get to work. The majority of people on the bus may be working class, but so are the majority of folks creeping along in their cars.

That being said. All business districts of Los Angeles are not equal, and this blanket hike in rates, is an undue burden for the East-side.

Now that being said. I find it particularly interesting that the group organizing the Town Hall Meeting, has their offices next to a metered lot in Highland Park, yet their employees that drive there rarely use it. Instead, preferring to park down the street in front of my house where there are no parking meters or hourly restrictions. [Meaning, visitors to my house may have to use the meters in the lot next to their building.]