Will They Be Towed At Last?

A long stretch of Topanga Canyon Boulevard has received temporary no parking signs so that some kind of road work can be done. One section in particular has become notorious for the illegal signs that the city allows to park here. This morning, most of the signs had been removed. Someone had placed the no-parking signs prominently on the two that remained, probably hoping that the city really will enforce regulations and tow them away. We'll see what happens.

When I stopped to photograph them, I noticed that the license plates had been removed from both the trailers. Photographs taken in December reveal that these trailers did have license plates at one time. Without the plates, it will be difficult to identify the owners when -- or rather if -- the trailers are towed to make way for the road work. One can only hope that this will represent a meaningful financial loss to the scofflaws who put them here.

Yes, I photographed these same signs in December, six months ago. Despite repeated complaints by local residents to both Parking Enforcement and the Bureau of Street Services, the city will not do anything about this ever-worsening problem. Here you can see the weeds that have grown up around the anchor of one of the trailers, and one of the spider webs that is decorating the other one.

  

By the way, Carmen Trutanich, who claimed to oppose illegal signs and promised to enforce regulations against them as part of his campaign for city attorney, was sworn into office July first. It will be interesting to see if anything will actually change.

Selfish

These gigantic trucks are always hazardous in city traffic. If you're stuck behind one, you can't see over or around it; if it is tailgating you (as they usually are), it completely fills the rear view mirror; and they frequently straddle the line that is supposed to divide the lanes. It often seems that the drivers just don't have a feeling for how big these things really are or exactly where they are positioned, or that they really don't care because they know they can bully everyone else on the road. They are clearly inappropriate for trips to the mall or the grocery store, but all too often they are found, like this one, arrogantly taking up four parking spots.


I agree that there are too many "compact" spots in most parking lots and that often they are too small even for truly compact cars. But this vehicle certainly could have fit within the boundaries. It's hard to say whether this driver consciously planned to use two slots, or whether it was just an instance of seriously incompetent parking coupled with an I-don't-care attitude.


I walked around this car and examined it carefully. There was no evidence of a handicap parking permit anywhere. And there were plenty of empty spots available and nearby.

By the way, all three of these vehicles were parked in the same lot at the same time. I snapped these photos one after the other as I was walking from my car to the store.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Last night someone informed me that the notorious political billboard had been removed. I photographed the trailer this morning.

I don't know who took the sign away, but it seems that it wasn't done in the usual way. Typically, these billboards stay parked in the same place for weeks or months at a time. Sometimes they are moved to a new location, and from time to time the billboards are replaced. I've never seen one of these trailers without a billboard.

I took this picture from my car. Note that if the billboard were still in place, it would be blocking my view of the pedestrian crossing sign. Also note the buildup of debris and trash around the tires.

Will we ever know who really paid for this, or who had it removed? Will there ever come a time when the city of Los Angeles enforces its regulations and takes action against these eyesores?