Hi all -

I was very excited to get my HOV stickers. And they came very quickly! One week before they cashed my check, stickers came a week after that. Not bad for such a red-tape agency. And, not as big or intrusive as I thought they'd be.

Great that we get to go in the carpool lane, but then someone tells me that with the stickers we can also park for free in the city of LA. I was very excited by that news. My friend sent me the article about it, but the article doesn't specify exactly what "city of LA" means. I have done some digging around, and I cant seem to find a site that will give specifics. I'd love to see a place where it says "free parking is good from this zip code to this zip code"

All I could find was someone saying that it doesn't apply to Westwood and Hollywood, but nothing to back that up. Is it good for the valley?

Any help would be great.

Thanks!

ally

You MUST be able to google up a map of the city of Los Angeles.

BTW it is most irregularly shapped city.

It has an arm the reaches down to the port of Los Angeles between San Pedro and Long Beach.

Yes, I am very capable of googling a map of Los Angeles. I don't need a map of Los Angeles. If you read my post, you will see that people have been having problems in what is technically the City of Los Angeles (Westwood, Hollywood, etc). So googling a map won't help. I want to know if anyone knows what the DMV defines as acceptable areas to get free metered parking.

For instance, does Beverly Hills, which considers itself a separate entity, count? Does the valley?

I think only a response directly from the City of Los Angeles itself will do .
Perhaps try them.

Have a nice day.

If there is truly "free parking" I suspect that it would be a city thing, not a DMV thing so it would likely be within the city limits only. As Kenny says, you should probably check with the city of Los Angeles itself to first determine if it's true and second determine the boundaries.

Shiloh -

There is definitely such a thing. That part I know for sure. Here is one of many articles on the subject: http://www.nbc4.tv/news/3778741/detail.html

Take care,

ally

So, if I have AZ plates, and no CA HOV sticker, I'll get ticketed if I try to park "free?"

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The article posted states that the free parking will be for 6 months. This article was written 10/04/04. I think it has expired by now.

Howard

Howard -

Here's another article - program actually ends next June. I also read another article that said in June they will evaluate, to see how successful it was, and they may extend.

http://www.lacity.org/ladot/freepark.htm

ally

I live in LA and tried to take part in this gimme back in April...and got a ticket!

After much back and forth with the city, I was finally able to get it removed and get my money back, but it was a hassle for sure.

Also, note that if the program only lasted 8 months, it would have actually expired June 30, 2005, not 2006, so that's a typo in the article. It's hard to tell if the program is still around or not.

As for what qualifies as Los Angeles or not, good question. It's hit or miss, as certain areas of the city incorporated as seperate entities years ago. Here's a partial list:

Burbank
San Fernando (the city, not the Valley itself, most of which IS part of the city of LA)
Glendale
West Hollywood
Beverly Hills
Culver City

And to be difficult, Marina Del Rey isn't its own city or in the city of LA--it's an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County (go figure).

A general rule of thumb: if you look up and see the standard LA blue street sign, you're in LA. Most of the special cities have their own signs indicating that you're in their city (White in Beverly Hills, Green in Culver City, etc.)

Hope that helps!