By Cary Anderson

It pays to have friends in high places. Executives of banks that were bailed out by the federal government gave themselves bonuses as a reward for their mismanagement.
 
On Saturday, the eighth annual Culver City Car Show will take place in Downtown.

Last Monday night, the City Council rewarded the Car Show “Event Operator” and Culver City’s Parking Enforcement for last year’s poor performance in fulfilling their obligation to help protect the Downtown Neighborhood from intrusion.
 
People looking for free and convenient parking have just parked in residential neighborhood for the last seven years. Last year it was advertised,“No Car Show parking is permitted in residential neighborhood…” A total of 32 “Resident-Only Parking” signs were required to be placed in the neighborhood.
 
No parking permit should have meant an instant ticket. The “Event Operator” allegedly delivered parking permits to the entire Downtown neighborhood. My block and others never received any.

The front desk of the Police Dept. had no idea what I was talking about when I told them about the advertisement in a local paper that said, “If you live in the area and don’t receive a permit… there will extras at the front desk of the Culver City Police Dept.”
 
After the Car Show, the police said the 32 City Engineer-approved signs had no legal weight.  No one who ignored the signs and parked in the residential area and walked to the Car Show was ticketed.

This year’s conditions of approval for the Car Show were going to require that the promoter sign an affidavit after the residential parking permits had been delivered and where they went. They didn’t want to be accountable, so they called their friends in high places.
 
Monday night’s agenda included an item that would eliminate “Special Parking Enforcement on the Day of the Annual Car Show Downtown.” Last year only ONE ticket was written when more than 50 cars were parked without permits.
 
Councilmember Andy Weissman said, “We have two choices… abate parking enforcement for the day of the Car Show and just leave it a free for all Downtown or we enforce.”
 
All conditions of approval related to neighborhood parking were removed.

No resident-only signs.

No parking passes.

Even with those gifts to the “Event Operator” by the City Council, they are still in violation of three of the conditions of their permit for the Car Show. With two former board members of the Car Show “Event Operator” and one former president of the Downtown Business Assn. on the City Council, it was no surprise.

It pays to have friends in high places.

Mr. Anderson may be contacted at cary@culvercity.tv