County Wants 'Cars for Sale' Off the Streets

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday in support of an ordinance that would prohibit parking cars for sale along some county roads including unincorporated parts of Chatsworth.

Supervisor Gloria Molina recommended the ordinance, saying some streets had been turned into impromptu car lots.

Posting a for-sale sign in a vehicle and parking it on a busy street
slows traffic because people pull over, and sometimes double park, to look at cars, according to attorneys for the county. Officials also associate the practice with  jaywalking and reduced parking for nearby businesses.

If the ordinance applied to specific streets only, car sellers might
simply move to the next convenient location, Supervisor Don Knabe said.

He and Molina offered an amendment to give Department of Public Works employees the ability to post signs barring for-sale vehicles wherever traffic congestion and nuisance activity justify a ban.

An existing ordinance bans parking "for sale'' cars anywhere, but
county attorneys have not pursued its enforcement, because similar laws have been ruled unconstitutional. That was the case in Los Angeles, where such a law was found to abridge freedom of speech.

The amended ordinance is designed to stand up to such a legal challenge.

Violators would be ticketed for a first offense. Twenty-four hours
later, if the ticketed vehicle's for-sale sign remained, it could be impounded, even if it had been moved to another street.

The ordinance will return to the board for its final administrative
approval.

-- City News Service