So I normally don't complain about things like this, but this time I am pretty angry. I have been parking my car (first the Echo and later the tC) in the exact same place on the street in front of my house every night for the last 6 years. I have never had a problem in that time, and neither have any of my neighbors who also park on the street.

Quick bit of background: This is a gated community with a 15mph speed limit. People drive slow and safe, so parking on the street has never been an issue. The streets are easily wide enough for two cars to pass each other even if other cars are parked against the curb. There are a couple of signs at the entrance to the gated community which prohibit street parking, but that has not stopped everyone from parking in front of their homes. Almost every household has more than one car, yet there is only driveway parking for one car per household.

So anyway, the bastard L.A. County Sheriff decided to pay a visit to our little community in the early morning hours (4 a.m. to 5 a.m.) when everyone was still sleeping. Almost every household received at least one parking ticket, and some got multiple tickets for multiple cars parked in front of their homes.

My tC got a ticket, but not just any ticket - a quadruple ticket! They got me for "failure to obey posted signs", which would have been fine, but to add insult to injury they also added charges of "failure to obey marking" (what markings?), "blocking a fire lane" (wtf?) and "failure to display a front license plate". I wasn't aware they could issue plate tickets to parked cars, but the other two rogue charges are just complete BS. There are no markings whatsoever, and I have no idea how they can consider the residential through-street a "fire lane". What bullsh*t.

I talked to neighbors and found that most people were also hit with at least 3 charges per ticket. Man, the Sheriff had a field day with us last night. Each ticket is easily $150 to $200 after all the charges stack up, and they ticketed at least 40/50 cars.

The most stupid part is that none of these people have any alternative place to park, and neither do I, unless I start parking on the lawn or on the roof or something. Let's hope the Sheriff doesn't decide to cash in again in the near future.

 

Since this is a gated community, I'd guess police don't bother patrolling it unless they were tipped off by someone or were on a call and noticed everyone parking on the street.

 

wow, thats gotta suck big time. do you know if your neighbors are complaining to the sheriffs office? any word from your neighborhood association?

if all else fails, talk to the media and try to get it on the news

let us know what happens

 

Yeah, no doubt. Everyone is sure that someone called the cops to come out in the early morning and do a ticket sting. The Sheriff never patrols out here, because it's too far for them to come and nothing ever happens. In fact, if we need to call the cops out for any reason, it takes them about a full 15 to 20 minutes to arrive.

 

None of the neighbors are complaining because they are all just as guilty. Everyone is sure that the park owner called the Sheriff, because the park recently came under new ownership.

 

i hate cops for that reason, bs tickets. get your fellow neighbors and go to the police station and ask that these tickets be explained and then try and fight them. i wouldnt let this go, it made me mad just thinking reading about it. keep us posted.

 

can't you contest those tickets? i imagine you'd end up having to pay the regular parking violation for ignoring the sign, but the other 3 sound like they could be waived

 

failure to obey posted sign and failure to obey marking sound like the same ticket to me...that bullisht.

blocking a fire lane...i can kinda see, because your parked in front of a house where a fire engine could possibly need to be...

and no front plate while the car is parked...i dont think thats legal, for all they know the car might not even work and couldve been sitting there for years...

id complain and fight man.

 

i dont know many households that only own one vehicle so where are they expecting the entire neighborhood to park.

throw up a few pics of your neighborhood, driveways. im more of a visual person myself.

try to see if there are people wanting to remove the ban on street parking.

 

I'm seriously thinking about contesting, and a lot of my neighbors are too. I just don't know if I have a case or not. I figure that this little operation was well planned, so the Sheriff probably has their cards in order already. They wouldn't issue masses of tickets if they knew they would all be contested.

 

I don't have any pictures on hand, except for pics I took of my tC which kinda show the street in the background. The pic below doesn't show much, but it shows the position where I always park and where I got my ticket...



And my old Echo when I first got it many years ago, streets kinda visible...

 

that is some fuked up ****...

i would protest lol

 

Yeah I think I will...

 

oh yea, i remember this pic as well as the plate

looks like a wide street from that shot

 

It's about 4 car-widths wide.

 

it also looks like there is no room along side the driveway.

i still say talk to the media about it, once you get them on your side, you practically win.

here in san antonio, all three stations have their "help the little guy out" story/section

they each have their catchy names too, "woai trouble shooters" "eyewitness news wants to know" and "ksat defenders"

im pretty sure that almost everyone that hears your story is ____ed off since you have little choice as to where to park your car. and to have gotten a ticket all of a sudden after doing it for 6 years, thats crap.

 

wow that is garbage..but yea report this to the local news and sign a petition or something. Im pretty sure the tickets will be dropped..well besides your front license ticket. The local news, " How would you feel waking up to tickets? Well today a small peaceful community in California was consumed by a swarm of tickets. Each household received multiple tickets. Residents of the area state that they have been parking in front of there houses for years and have not dealt with problems. Most feel as if the police who sworn to protect them and doing the opposite in this situation, they firmly believe that this is not justice." LoL the news will make it seem all dramatic.

 

Hey that sounds pretty good. I'll see if anyone else wants to go to the media about this.

 

i dont know bout LA, but i live right next to Coto de Caza, a rich ___ gateed community where they film that "real housewives of Orange County". and OCSD cant cite in there for parking because it is Private Property. you should look into that. and you can be cited for equipment violations when your car is parked.

 

thats beatttt, court that ish lol. if u get a bunch of people as well they have to do something about it