loading.jpgThe parking situation on La Cienega is fairly tolerable.  I would argue that this is mainly due to the fact that there’s never a particularly high concentration of shoppers promenading up and down the boulevard, which, in turn, I would blame more than any other factor on the absence of parking.   In case you haven’t noticed, all the side streets are permit only.  (Have you ever tried to park at night when all the restaurants and bars on the block are crowded?  You have no civilized choice but valet.)  Anyway, the argument quickly gets circular without even considering the enraged lunatics in their racing cars tailgating anyone going less than mach 1, who certainly play a role, especially to anyone considering trying to parallel park.

Overall, I’d say that there’s parking enough for 20 or so visiting cars – any more begins to stress the system.  So why were two metered spots taken out on the west side of the street just south of Sherwood and replaced with “Loading Only” signs?  Granted, there are delivery trucks stopped up and down the street all day long bringing new pieces in and taking sold ones out, but I can’t imagine those trucks significantly slowing the flow of traffic.  There are already a whole bunch of “Loading Only” spots and plenty of other red areas into which the trucks can pull, assuming that they stay nearby and keep their flashers on.

Listen, I’m sure I may be just over reacting, but shouldn’t we get some say in what happens right in front of our stores, or even a little warning?  It would be one thing if people could park in those spots knowing that their chances of getting a parking ticket would be slim, but as we all know, you’re lucky to get 5 minutes on an expired meter before getting a ticket.  As the state gets more and more broke it seems that the only ideas for money are to write more and more tickets.  I’m guessing at this point that there’s more meter maids than actual policemen.  They’re like termites.  Whatever.

Sorry for the rant.  I get a lot of parking tickets.