Sgt. August Johnson and his parking-enforcement team patrol Ventura Boulevard, on the lookout for that bane of the rush-hour commute: parked cars blocking traffic.
A 16-year veteran of the parking game, he knows scofflaws can often be found near the dry cleaner and in front of the automated teller machine. Some forget to read the parking sign; others think they can quickly run an errand without getting caught.
He's seen all the tricks.
"We have people who pull up, pop their hazard lights on, run inside and come back out," Johnson said. "These hazard lights are basically calling to us as we drive past, 'Here I am, here I am, here I am!' "
There are more than 1,300 miles of tow-away zones in Los Angeles, designed to clear traffic lanes of parked cars so traffic can flow more smoothly, especially during rush hour. But on an average day, only about 60 parked cars are towed. About 7% of cars that received parking citations in tow zones were actually towed away in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30.
But the city is about to change that.
Beginning Monday, some of the city's busiest streets will have tow trucks lined up at staging areas ready to nab cars as soon as the rush-hour restrictions start. Extra parking officers will be deployed during rush hour in a campaign to tow violators en masse -- and in the process send a message.
"For those people not following the law, it's going to be a very dramatic shift," said Jimmy Price, chief of parking enforcement for the city's transportation department. "For those who abide by the law, I think they'll find traveling in L.A. city streets will be quicker and easier."
Until now, parking enforcement officers had the discretion to decide whether or not to call a tow truck when they cited a vehicle in a tow-away zone. Often, they decide against it, in part because most violators are usually parked for only a few minutes -- it takes longer to get a tow truck at the scene. If the officer does call a truck, he must wait for it to arrive -- preventing him from ticketing more cars.
The new directive, involving 35 major streets, requires officers to call a tow truck for every vehicle they ticket. As many as 60 officers will be assigned to this detail, about double the number who usually monitor the rush hour tow-away zones. The crackdown will eventually be expanded onto arterial streets.
