Dukakis prods for a revision of LA parking

LOS ANGELES -- Michael S. Dukakis, who lost his bid for president in 1988, can declare victory in his latest campaign.

The former Massachusetts governor has been at the center of a three-year battle against the longtime practice of apron parking in a neighborhood west of the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles, where parked cars spill out of apartment driveways onto sidewalks and streets.

"It's a disaster," said Dukakis, who teaches public policy at UCLA and lives part time in the adjacent Westwood Village neighborhood.

After much complaining, city officials are listening to Dukakis and other critics of apron parking. In a few weeks, parking enforcement officers are expected to begin aggressively ticketing cars that block streets and sidewalks.

There are only 857 legal curb spaces in North Village streets and about 5,700 vehicles owned by people in that neighborhood. The demand gets far worse as UCLA commuter students comb the streets looking for parking.

Apron parking is illegal, but for decades, Los Angeles officials have allowed the practice. Dukakis has argued that apron parking is dangerous and makes it difficult for disabled people to use sidewalks.