Anyone who's been taking advantage of the city's lack of enforcement of rules for parking on parkways over the last five-plus years has a few days left to enjoy doing so without being ticketed, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.
On Monday, the city will resume enforcement following the City Council's passage in June of an amended ordinance which outlaws the maneuver and defined the parkway as the area on a street between the curb and the sidewalk that is generally landscaped.
Parkway parking restrictions haven't been enforced by the city since 2011, when it suspended enforcement in response to complaints about tickets being issued to owners of vehicles parked on the so-called "apron" of driveways, which is the area of the driveway below the sidewalk, and as a result ended up allowing parkway parking.
After the city stopped enforcement, drivers in some neighborhoods started parking on parkways, even though the city had not advertised that it was allowed.
The new amendment going into efffect on Monday focuses on preventing parkway parking and does not address apron parking.
"A parkway is the area of the public right-of-way not intended for vehicular use between the sidewalk and the curb. A parkway can also be located where no curb exists between the sidewalk and the public street, which the city has reserved for landscaping and utilities," according to an LADOT statement. "No person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle within the area of a parkway. For parkway violators, penalties include issued citations."
Assistant City Attorney Michael Nagle explained to a City Council committee in June that state law still prevents apron parking in many cases, particularly if a vehicle juts into the street or is parked over the sidewalk, and the city will continue to enforce state law.
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The city's efforts to define its policies on apron and parkway parking had stalled since 2011 due to a number of lawsuits brought by disability advocates over the state of its sidewalks. The city has settled those lawsuits and last year agreed to spend more than $1.3 billion over 30 years to fix sidewalks.
