Woodland Hills To Get Relief From Street Sweeping Tickets

LOS ANGELES, CA — Because starting your day with a street sweeping ticket is the worst, a pilot program aimed at reducing the number of parking citations issued for street sweeping was approved Wednesday by a Los Angeles City Council committee.

Residents would be informed via a text or online tool when street sweepers have finished cleaning a street. The program would be implemented in Woodland Hills and West Los Angeles before potentially expanding to the entire city if successful.

The idea came from a report issued by the Los Angeles Parking Reform Working Group, which was formed by Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 and included residents, business owners and representatives of different organizations.

One of the group's recommendations was to reduce the overall number of citations issued for street cleaning violations by better using technology.

In 2015, the City Council approved a motion to direct departments to incorporate GPS tracking on all street sweeping vehicles, and the program would allow people to be better informed through an online tool when sweepers are done on a street, making it safe to park there.

A report on the pilot program said it would be expected to take about eight to 10 months to implement, at a cost of $573,316.

If the program were to go citywide, Los Angeles could lose between $4.5 million and $11.8 million in parking citation revenue, although the estimate will be refined following an analysis of the revenue impact upon completion of the pilot program, the report said.

The pilot was approved by the Public Works and Gang Reduction Committee and will now go to the full City Council for a vote.

City News Service; Photo: Pixabay