by Garth Meyer
A change in Redondo Beach parking enforcement during street sweeping hours has drawn protests after a longstanding courtesy was lifted.
The Redondo Beach Police Department made an announcement July 25, regarding the change.
The city council will discuss the matter Sept. 3.
Previously, people were allowed to re-park their cars during street sweeping hours after the sweeper had passed.
“There’s historically been a courtesy extended,” said Police Chief Joe Hoffman. “Based on complaints we’re receiving, the gap between the sweeper and parking enforcement officer has grown, and (the officer) cannot distinguish what cars moved for the sweeper and re-parked, or were illegally parked when the sweeper passed by.”
To address this, Hoffman said that the courtesy was lifted to allow a parking enforcement officer to “properly distinguish vehicles in violation, and effectively enforce street sweeping throughout the city.”
The amount of water used in local street cleaning has been reduced in the last three years, the chief noted, since Athens Services took over the Redondo Beach contract from the city’s Public Works department. The “misting system” Athens uses leaves less water remnants on the street, thus parking officers are not always able to tell if a parked car was there before or not.
“I’ve been getting messages on both sides of the issue,” Hoffman said. “No laws were repealed, no new laws were added.”
At Tuesday night’s city council meeting, Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr., relayed comments made to him.
“I’ve gotten a lot of complaints (about a certain street), that cars are parked, the street is not getting cleaned and the cars are not getting ticketed,” he said.
City Manager Mike Witzansky said the subject will be on the Sept. 3 agenda for council discussion. He added that an adjustment might be made to the municipal code, to establish that when both the street sweeper and the parking enforcement vehicle have gone through, it would be permissible for cars to park on the street sweeping side of the street within restricted hours.
Mayor Jim Light asked Witzansky if this will be the policy until the September meeting.
“By all accounts, I suspect that’s how we’ll proceed in the next month, but it’s going to be important that we enshrine that in the code,” Witzansky said.
He added that, as part of the discussion, the council will be given information about “technology upgrades” which may help the issue.
Chief Hoffman gave as an example of these, using a license plate-reader so a parking enforcement officer does not need to get out of their vehicle to issue a ticket (instead it is sent in the mail to the car’s owner), and to potentially adjust sweeper speeds to minimize the gap between the sweeper and the parking officer.
“Hopefully we reach some kind of reasonable modification that allows the city to properly clean the streets and enforce the rules and reduce the burden on residents,” Hoffman said. “Since we’re well aware that parking in Redondo Beach can be challenging.”
He said the number of tickets issued in the city has stayed consistent from year to year.
Another possibility Hoffman said is to send out more parking personnel.
“That still would not excuse the fact that the signs are very clearly stating that no parking is allowed… It still would not allow exemptions to the existing law,” the chief said. “A lot of residents believe that was the law. The citizens who are complaining have a point. I can see both sides of the issue.” ER
