Parking Tickets Swept Under the Rug? Council Weighs In

The City Council will be looking into possibly changing how the city handles parking tickets on street sweeping days after a number of residents complained that the neighborhoods east of El Camino Real were being unfairly targeted.

Resident Sara Glascock brought the issue to the council at a recent meeting and told the city how she was while her more affluent neighbors on the other side of El Camino Real seemingly got ignored by parking enforcement officers.

The council will now be discussing the issue at at 7 p.m.

But if any changes are made, it won't be as simple as placing more "no parking" signs throughout the entire city.

Parking tickets for street sweeping go all the way back to 1982, when the council decided to fine residents for parking on streets on street sweeping days to prevent flooding. Many of the streets east of El Camino Real were prone to flooding, the city found.

Many of the streets in that area are still narrow and homes have one-car garages, so many people continue to park on the street.

Despite residents' complaints that the city was unfairly targeting certain residents when it came to parking enforcement on street sweeping days, the city says it didn't extend those rules west of El Camino Real because those streets typically were never susceptible to flooding, and they were generally wider and less congested.

The city now says parking restrictions should be extended across El Camino Real, at least to some neighborhoods.

According to a staff report, the Mills Park and Lomita Park neighborhoods would benefit from having parking restrictions on street sweeping days because narrow streets and a limited number of trees contribute to clogged storm drains.

These changes would come with a cost.

If additional parking restrictions were put in place, the Police Department is asking for two more parking enforcement officers and one more vehicle, which would cost the city $1 million. The parking fines would offset some of the costs, the police department said.

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