I took a little walk the other day to enjoy the crisp Fall air and just to see how my neighborhood was doing….
As I walked by the little Triangle Park on Sunset & Griffith Park, I spotted this odd little thing. It appears to be a miniature billboard about 10 inches high. “Hmmm,…. I wonder if this is a result of all the Pedo over the installation of those new digital electronic billboards? City imposed downsizing perhaps?”
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez5-2008oct05,1,940453.column
…It appears to be an advert for some new video game promotion. Very clever indeed!
Sorry- I just could not resist……….
Later, I spotted some dueling graffiti on some Colchones De Elecciones!
Now, here’s a great example on how NOT to survive “La Crisis“.
A totally preventable loss of $50, If someone had only bothered to read the posted street sign. Folks, if you find this much available parking on a street one day, please be suspicious about it. I see people (a lot of hipsters) get tickets in this neighborhood on a daily basis so much that I sometimes bring out a deck chair and a drink just to watch the Parking Enforcement drama & comedy. I watch as most parking ticket receipients try to figure out how it’s not their own damned fault that they got a ticket. It’s funny, because I’ve watched drivers park in people’s driveways, park in the red, double park, etc. just to go get a really expensive cup of coffee (Latte=The New Crack!) they’ll usually say “I’ll just be a few minutes!” as they dash away, cellphone glued to ear. I’m amazed to see that some don’t seem to be fazed at all by finding a parking ticket on their windshield when they get back. It’s almost like it’s become an acceptable surcharge to them.
Well, Y’all come back to Sunset Junction-real soon!, the City can sure use the Revenue!
I saw one of those signs mini signs recently, it ended up in the trash. I work over on the West side of the river and I’m amazed at how often people try to get away with parking in wrong places, and I’m even more amazed at all the reasoning that they use for why it’s justified/not responsible for the result. I saw a lady park in red and when she got a ticket (but of course) she went inside the place trying to “explain” why she shouldn’t have. The clerk inside was just “talk to the DOT, we have nothing to do with your parking tickets”. It was crazy, sad, and funny.
I recently saw a sign in my neighborhood that read “Speed Hump.” I wasn’t sure if it was a command or an observation.
Chavo- At first I thought that most people just did not realize that they were in a No Parking Zone or that they don’t read, or don’t understand what they read. (by the way, ALL of my Spanish speaking neighbors who probably don’t read English as their first language are perfectly aware of where & when they’re not supposed to park. THEY know what’s up.) Then I began to notice that in fact, these scofflaws know quite well that they’re parking illegally but they try to get away with it anyway. Whether it’s due to arrogance, sense of entitlement, superiority complex, or simply having a rule-breaking nature, I don’t know. But you should see some of the horrendous shit that the traffic enforcement cops have to deal with around here.
Chuck M- I’ve already petitioned the Dept. of Transportation to change that lettering to: “Slow Hump.”
It looks like whoever wrote “mccain” has tagger style lettering.It must be the daddy yankee demographic.
This past Sunday, I told two ladies driving a very large red SUV that they were blocking my neighbors driveway and that the street was parking permit only on weekends (there was a space across the street that was not permit, with about 6 parking spaces open, which I told the ladies about).
Well the ladies said “we will be only a second, we have to unload (the truck) all this stuff for the charity saleâ€. I pointed out it would take way more then a second to unload all the crap in their over sized SUV and my neighbors may need to leave before they are done, why not just park across the street.
The ladies griped and complained how “unfriendly†all the people moving into the neighborhood are (note- I have been here for like 12 years and the neighbors about 20 years), how we have “ruined Sunset Junctionâ€
They continued to unload. We called DOT parking enforcement. The ladies got a ticket.
Al, I think the “No cruising” signs have been there since the 70’s, when people actually cruised. I’ve never seen any cruising action on Griffith Park Blvd. I do see old dudes reading newspapers and walking really fast with no shirt on, however.
@Chimatli- lol! Daddy Yankee is so stupid…
Just to clarify on the NO CRUISING signs here in Sunset Junction. There’s been a longtime problem with Male Prostitution in the areas around Griffith Park Bl. Effie, Fountain & Hyperion. Up to a couple of years ago there were quite a few Gay bars, A Leather bar (Cuffs) and a bathhouse around here. At night there’d be any number of guys hanging around these back streets looking to “party”. Residents complained of all the “sidewalk sodomy” and that’s why the signs went up. The recent Gentrification boom kind of pushed a lot of that out, but there’s still some remnants of that scene around that you can see occasionally. There’s even a scene with “Gay Cholos” around here. They look and dress just like gangbangers but they’re Gay. When I first moved here (13 yrs ago ) coming from ELA, I was surprised to discover this scene. I’ve been trying to approach them to try to write a piece on them and Gay-Cholos & Cholas in Gangs in L.A.
I was just at the parking violations payment center and saw some totally obnoxious hipster couple pay $428 in parking fines. Yes, I know the amount cuz they wanted everyone to know their business and they kept repeating it. Then the guy says “So now I only owe $442. Fantastic.” Way to let everyone know how much money you have to blow on being totally oblivious to the laws that everyone is supposed to follow.
I have no love for parking enforcement though cuz they have never ticketed someone for blocking my driveway and I call them about this all the time. If I know whose car it is I’ll ask them to move it instead of calling but if its a strange car I’m not going to go knocking on every door to find who the car’s owner is. Every time parking enforcement shows up they stand there looking at the car instead of writing a ticket and someone always comes out and says they’ll move it. I once had them out twice in an hour cuz they let some guy off the hook and didn’t even stick around to see that he moved the car as promised. Maybe it would be different if I lived in a “nice neighborhood.” They’re just wasting city money by responding and not issueing a violation, which is why people think it’s okay to keep blocking other people’s driveways.
Of course I see a parking enforcement ticketing MY car (and telling me that it was about to be towed) while it’s parked in front of my house one day. She told me that I was violating the 72-hour rule. I was very polite and reasonable (now I wish I would have been mean!) and told her that that wasn’t possible because there was “no parking” due to street sweeping a mere 48 hours prior and that my car was not on the street at that time, and if it was there would be a record of a citation for that. She seemed surprised, said “that is a good point” but told me she had to write me a ticket anyway because my car was dirty and had “grass growing under it” (uh, a weed stuck in the undercarriage) and that the tires were in the same position that they were when she noticed the car four days prior. The tires weren’t marked, this was based on her eyeballing it and she said that I had a better chance of winning the super lotto than having the tires be in the same position after driving it. Hear that, you have better than a one in 12 (her standard for tire position was based on a clockface) chance of winning the super lotto!
This is a long rant, but I just have to say that the sense of entitlement latte crowd sucks but I’m not going to feel sorry for the abuse any parking enforcement officer gets while they hand out bogus citations to people who follow the law and arbitrarily let other people off the hook.
I think that whatever personal experience you may have had with parking enforcement, even if it does appear to have been unfortunate and definitely unfair, is not a justifiable basis to proceed to paint the entire force with the same brush of culpability. That said, I think that, based on your story, you were right and they were wrong in this case.
PitbullGirl,
I think the parking-in-front-of-your-house story is the most unfair parking tale I’ve heard and for it to happen in NELA is just unacceptable.
It’s sad that in our world folks who get a little power seize on it like they are owners of their tiny kingdoms and everyone is subject to their whims. It’s why I hate bureaucracies more than anything in our messed up system.
Anyways, I used to have a crazy roommate who would get back at people who parked in our driveway by throwing up on their cars. Yup, she was that crazy! It worked.
If I may suggest in dealing with such matters: Always take plenty of photos, (get names/dates/times) write complaint letters (in clear, non-hysterical tones) and cc your district council person. Also, Beware if there’s a neighbor(s) that have a beef with you and who may be the one calling in a parking complaint about your car.
As for people parking & blocking someone’s driveway, I have a neighbor who often deals with that by double parking another of his cars to block & trap the offending vehicle from leaving. He once had a woman crying and begging and apologizing for about 20 minutes before he let her go.
Al,
Tell us when the Vista used to show porn. I was not here yet, but I heard stories and one of the reasons that they floor is eternally sticky. You can never truly clean certain things you know…lol….
Browne