Thursday, February 19, 1998
Beware of parking in tow-away zones
PARKING: Temporary signs had been ignored; contractors ask for
50 cars to be moved
By Barbara Ortutay
Daily Bruin Contributor
Students who parked their cars in the seemingly unenforced
tow-away zone on Gayley (between Veteran and Strathmore) may have
woken up to an unpleasant surprise on Friday and Monday
morning.
Around 10 a.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Monday, Los Angeles city
parking enforcement towed every car parked along the north side of
Gayley – 50 total.
The signs say cars will be towed if they are parked in the zone
from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Although some students who happened to be around managed to move
their cars before they were towed, many others were in class and
not aware of the situation.
"My friend is taking two midterms right now, he didn’t know
about this," said David Smith, a third-year student. After he
explained his friend’s situation to the parking enforcement
officers, they did not tow the car.
The temporary tow-away zone signs have been up for over a week,
but students have been parking there anyway because the no-parking
zone has not been enforced.
There were other no-parking signs up in connection with the De
Neve Plaza project that have not been enforced consistently,
either.
"It’s kind of unfair that they pick a random day to enforce a
rule that they don’t follow on other days," said second-year
student Paul Milinsky, after successfully moving his car to the
other side of the street.
According to Ed Lloyd from Neilsen-Dellingham, the company in
charge of the De Neve Plaza Project, the call to tow the cars came
from Doty Brothers Development, the company employed by the L.A.
department of transportation.
Doty Brothers Development is employed by the city to construct a
new sidewalk on Gayley and Strathmore. They have no connection to
UCLA.
According to Jeff Kaelar, a representative from the company that
towed the cars, the zone was not enforced earlier because the
construction did not reach the area until Friday, so there was no
need for the cars to be moved.
"The contractor calls the city and the city calls us," Kaelar
said.
According to city employee Wilbur Takashima, unless parking
enforcement regularly patrols the area, the contractor renting the
site must call to have a no-parking zone enforced.
"Typically, a tow will not take place unless the contractor
called to complain," he said.
In addition to being charged with a $30 ticket, students who had
their cars towed will be charged for the cost of the towing, which
typically costs $100 to $200.
The towing drew a small group of disgruntled onlookers who were
not parked on the street, but who did express their dissatisfaction
with parking enforcement.
"This sucks," said graduate student Angel Covarrubias.
By Tuesday, construction on the side of the street began, so
cars were physically unable to park in the no-parking zone.