Today highlighted one of the reasons I might move out of LA.
In LA, one has to drive everywhere. Traffic is bad everywhere
around LA, including the Unholy triangle of the 101, 405, and the 10. That’s
been well Documented. Not only is traffic bad, but the bigger problem, in my
opinion, is parking. That car’s gotta go somewhere.
At some point, the Los Angeles Police Department and the
cities of Hollywood, Los Angeles, and Beverly Hills decided to coordinate their
efforts in collecting as much money as possible, setting up random areas where
there is no parking and tow-away zones to get the most bang out of their buck.
O, and towing companies are part of the Los Angeles transportation cartel.
Today, I went to the Hollywood YMC to attend open gym
dodgeball. I had parked there last Thursday, no problem, plenty of parking.
This week, however, there were a lot of cars there, to the point of no meter
parking spots. Not a big deal, this is LA, gotta find a way. I found a strip of
meters that were just ending (Los Angeles parking ends at 8PM, so meters are
fair game). So I decided to park. I even read the signs. But apparently I
missed one sign that stated that there was no parking on nights from Wednesday
to Saturday. An hour later, I get back to my car, and my car is gone. The worst
feeling in the world, in my opinion. Saiaku. 最悪 = the worst.
Now, obviously I
am to blame for not reading the sign, but trust me, there were a lot of signs
in that area, coupled with the fact that block had lots of meters that looked
exactly the same that WEREN’t in the tow zone. A reasonable person who’s had a
long day and travels a lot might be allowed to make a mistake. $60? $70? That’s
an expensive lesson, but I can live with that. But the towing impounding process
is the $70 PLUS $280 for the towing company. $350. That’s a lot of money for
ANYBODY, I don’t care who it is, but especially people who take cars into
Hollywood (not rich people who use limousines, private drivers, etc.) It’s not
that I shouldn’t be punished for the infraction, it’s the severity of the
punishment and the excessive payment: I mean what did the towing company have
to do? Get a call to tow someone, have the driver go get it, and then release
it to me about an hour later? That’s a pretty easy way to make $280 in an hour,
and can anyone explain why towing companies are always like a mile or two away
from the actualy parking location? I mean there were towing companies right
next to the meters. Why do I have to go halfway across town to get my car?
Another subsidy to the taxi companies? Tondemonai. とんでもない= totally unreasonable.
As you might
imagine this is not my first trip to the rodeo, or first trip to the impound
lot. I’ve been towed TWICE in a calendar year now, with 2 different cars. This
would not happen in a city where I just take the subway. I was never towed in
Chicago, although to be fair small sample size. I really think L.A. County
purposely puts these spots up to collect money from people. They KNOW people
are going to stumble across.
Another racket:
Do not park on the city streets overnight in San Gabriel. ANYWHERE in San
Gabriel. Even though there are no signs. I looked everywhere for a sign last
week parking overnight in San Gabriel; there were none. When I got back, there
was a nice old ticket there. If I am a person coming from another city to visit
San Gabriel for the first time, how am I supposed to know that rule? Totally
unreasonable.
Sigh. Quick note
on the NFL games this weekend: I think the betting trends have swung a little
too much to the underdogs. In Seattle and Denver you got absolutely the 2 best
teams in the league this year who have had 2 weeks to rest themselves and
prepare for teams they’ve already beaten this season, waiting AT HOME in
awesome home environments. I would say take Seattle and Denver point spread
(Seattle only -7.5 at home) and hope New England is the big favorite that gets
upset this week. Many are saying that SF and Carolina is a toss-up game
(currently San Fran -1 favorite), but just from watching Carolina they are
better than 4 points worse than the Niners (with 3 points for home field).
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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