The year of parking courageously

Los Angeles issues many fewer tickets during the pandemic
Parking

Illustration of parking in Los Angeles

 

The City of Los Angeles issued more than 1.3 million parking tickets last year, a steep drop from the more than 2 million a year it typically issues, according to Los Angeles Department of Transportation data.

 

There were nearly 188,000 citations issued in February. The coronavirus lockdown began the next month, and the city moved to relax parking enforcement to make it easier for people staying home to avoid getting a ticket. In April, just 44,040 tickets were handed out.

 

The numbers began creeping up the next month, with the 55,919 tickets issued in March representing a nearly 27% increase from April. In July, 86,969 vehicles were ticketed. 

 

Parking citations issued in Los Angeles in 2020

Chart of parking tickets issued in Los Angeles

 

The relaxed parking enforcement came to an end on Oct. 15, and the pace of ticketing shot up immediately. That month brought 195,084 citations, a nearly 102% increase from September’s 96,661 tickets. The monthly tally remained above 150,000 for the remainder of the year. 

 

Vehicle owners were given 292,323 citations last year for parking during street cleaning days, or 22% of all tickets issued. There were 271,343 tickets for an expired meter, 21% of the total. Red zone violations accounted for nearly 12% of the tickets issued.

 

 

Neighborhoods with the most parking citations in 2020

Worst LA neighborhoods for parking tickets

 

Densely-packed Downtown ranked first in the number of citations issued last year with 5,710, followed by Hollywood, with 3,779. In Porter Ranch, just four tickets were handed out.  

 

Neighborhoods with the fewest parking citations in 2020

Los Angeles neighborhoods with the fewest parking tickets

 

The drop in parking tickets may have felt like a holiday for car owners, but it impacted the city’s bottom line, as the money helps pay for things such as street improvements. City Controller Ron Galperin last year projected that city revenue could be nearly $600 million below projections in the current fiscal year (which runs through June 30). 

 

Galperin spokesperson Ian Thompson said parking citation revenue for the previous fiscal year was $114.9 million. He said that revenue for the first six months of this year is “just a hair under $40 million,” though the rise in citations “should result in a second half that is much better than the first half.”

 

On Nov. 2, the city launched a program encouraging Angelenos to pay parking tickets quickly. Early Pay LA offers a $20 fee reduction for the most common parking citations if they are paid within 48 hours of when the ticket is written. The program is in effect until June 30. 

 

Colin Sweeney, public information director for LADOT, said that as of Jan. 19, a total of 25,841 citations had been paid using Early Pay LA. 

 

Crosstown examined how many parking tickets were issued for 110 neighborhoods in the city of Los Angeles. You can use the search bar to see how your neighborhood compares to others. 

 

Parking citations by neighborhood in 2020

Neighborhood  Parking citations Jan.-Dec. 2020
Adams-Normandie 125
Arleta 99
Arlington Heights 284
Atwater Village 269
Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw 463
Bel-Air 28
Beverly Crest 58
Beverly Grove 1,820
Beverlywood 49
Boyle Heights 1,350
Brentwood 621
Broadway-Manchester 192
Canoga Park 369
Carthay 215
Central Alameda 135
Century City 115
Chatsworth 161
Chesterfield Square 121
Cheviot Hills 43
Chinatown 320
Cypress Park 109
Del Rey 175
Downtown 5,710
Eagle Rock 287
East Hollywood 1,627
Echo Park 799
El Sereno 217
Elysian Park 14
Elysian Valley 73
Encino 597
Exposition Park 408
Fairfax 1297
Florence 392
Glassell Park 112
Gramercy Park 92
Granada Hills 179
Green Meadows 142
Hancock Park 428
Harbor City 91
Harbor Gateway 128
Harvard Heights 239
Harvard Park 158
Highland Park 741
Historic South Central 443
Hollywood 3,779
Hollywood Hills West 226
Hyde Park 326
Jefferson Park 152
Koreatown 1,418
Lake Balboa 60
Lakeview Terrace 28
Larchmont 267
Leimert Park 176
Lincoln Heights 346
Los Feliz 687
Manchester Square 59
Mar Vista 478
Mid-City 817
Mid-Wilshire 1451
Mission Hills 114
Montecito Heights 46
Mount Washington 32
North Hills 313
North Hollywood 1,249
Northridge 414
Pacific Palisades 499
Pacoima 375
Palms 497
Panorama City 318
Pico-Robertson 564
Pico-Union 501
Playa Del Rey 96
Playa Vista 81
Porter Ranch 4
Rancho Park 62
Reseda 356
San Pedro 672
Sawtelle 1,893
Shadow Hills 21
Sherman Oaks 1,281
Silver Lake 687
South Park 154
Studio City 1107
Sun Valley 401
Sunland 16
Sylmar 259
Tarzana 387
Toluca Lake 187
Tujunga 39
University Park 309
Valley Glen 371
Valley Village 262
Van Nuys 1,276
Venice 1,818
Vermont Knolls 340
Vermont Slauson 361
Vermont Square 648
Vermont Vista 274
Watts 195
West Adams 219
West Hills 51
West Los Angeles 530
Westchester 531
Westlake 2,361
Westwood 1076
Wilmington 297
Windsor Square 265
Winnetka 220
Woodland Hills 298

 

*An earlier version of this article stated that the Department of Transportation’s collection of parking data for 2019 was incomplete. However, the department had recently updated the missing data on its publicly available database. Crosstown has amended this article accordingly. 

 

 

How we did it: We examined data from the Los Angeles Department of Transportation from Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2020. 

 

Interested in our data or have additional questions? Email us at askus@xtown.la.