More parking palimpsests

May 13, 2009 at 7:04 pm in Rants, Transportation

My dearest native informant has insisted since I arrived in the City of Angels that the parking notices are self-evident. I think it is a point of pride for the natives that they know the secret to these matters… I joke that my informant “knows a guy who knows a guy in the parking department.”

I am a bit alarmed, actually, that I no longer have too much difficulty deciphering signs like the ones shown (though this is not the worst of them). Or at least I can understand them to a first brush, enough to park or not with a moderate degree of confidence. Of course, it is all relative, since I have found that being in clear conformance with signage does not necessarily prevent tickets, in any case. You have the right to contest a $40 ticket, of course… as long as you are willing to spend a full day, at an unspecified future date, waiting in lines at court (and probably being ticketed outside the course building).

There are corner cases still, naturally. Were I to have that district no. 13 permit, would I be ticketed on Tuesday mornings? Do readers have any more convoluted examples to add to my bag of arcana; I am sure I’ve seen five adjoined signs at times, but cannot remember exactly where now that I’ve thought of posting these mysteries.

10 hour parking: 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Update: A reader, pcloadletter, adds a sign that is just too brilliant not to include in the post. The resolution isn’t great, but you can still make it out.

4 Comments »

coenbro

The answer is yes, you would get a ticket. That’s when they clean the street. I live in District 13 and I see people getting them all the time.
lamapnerd

First clue: That’s actually just two signs – one for the street cleaning, and one for the “2 Hr. 8-6 M-F, NO Parking all other times, Dist 13 Permits exempt”.

Second clue: Common sense.

Q: “Would the fact that I’m a local resident with a parking permit make it OK for my car to be parked here, preventing the street cleaner from cleaning the street on street-cleaning day?”

A: “Uhh, no, probably not.”

Really, this stuff isn’t all that complicated, as long as you can prevent your brain from shutting down when it sees more than two rules applying to the same space.

And even if it seems a bit complex at first blush, a moment’s thought about why such rules might exist will usually make everything clear.

Like in this case, they’re allowing short-term parking for visitors to local businesses during regular weekday business hours, reserving parking for local residents the rest of the time, and they want to be able to clean the street once a week.

Not exactly rocket science, is it? :-)

(And, um, “palimpsests”? Wouldn’t those be blank?)
http://digitalbasement.blogspot.com/ pcloadletter

This one has always been my favorite:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a240/incidentally/10hrparking.jpg
http://gnosis.cx Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters

That one is just brilliant, pcloadletter! I love that so much, I’ll add the actual image to the post itself.

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