Take That! City Will Post Signs to Outfox 'Curb Coyotes'

Think you can just out-paint City Hall?

Well, think again. Although one or more  red in the past half year in Studio City, it’s not going to happen again.

The reason is that on Tuesday morning—after the vandals struck again by painting over the freshly painted red curbs in the 4200 block of Colfax Avenue—frustrated city Department of Transportation officials met with equally frustrated Los Angeles Councilman Paul Krekorian and came up with a plan to outfox the perpetrators whom officials and local residents have nicknamed the "Colfax Curb Coyotes."

No Parking signs will go up by the end of this week in front of the Studio Village townhome complex at 4265 Colfax Ave.—banning parking all the time, 24 hours a day. As a result, residents will lose three parking spaces, instead of the one space that had been the battleground between red and gray.

“We have known that the best solution would be to get signs up,” said Studio Village manager Nancy J. Brown, who pointed out that the residents of the 343 townhomes will now be able to drive out of the complex's exit more safely. “Now it doesn’t matter if the curb is painted purple or gold or red or gray. There will be no parking there. It will assure a safe visual distance to see oncoming cars....

“This will finally stop the Colfax Curb Coyotes who have kept this silliness going on.”

The silliness was costing a lot each time the city came to do a paint-over, according to Clinton M. Quan, a Transportation Engineering Associate from the city DOT. "The cost to repaint the curb at Colfax Avenue in Studio City is approximately $200," he said. "This includes time and labor."

Quan said the Studio City situation is unusual: "There might be an occasional paint-over, however we don't have this level of frequency to repaint in other areas of the city."

The Los Angeles Police Department said vandalism could be considered a felony, especially if the damages are more than $400. The Colfax damages so far are double that, if it is proven that it was done by the same culprit.

Residents in the area will be notified of the change with flyers, said Krekorian’s Communications Director Jeremy Oberstein.

“The Studio Village complex has ample parking, and some people may have to walk a couple of extra blocks, but this is primarily a safety concern,” Oberstein said.

And what about the who were not caught gray-handed?

“We are exploring the possibility of setting up a reward system for capture and conviction of whoever did this,” Oberstein said.

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