There’s a new parking ticket enforcer in town: Malibu’s Volunteers on Patrol (VOP).
The Malibu City Council last Wednesday approved a measure that will allow volunteers to write tickets for illegally parked cars throughout Malibu, just in time for the summer tourist rush.
Six of the VOP members should be trained in time for 4th of July weekend, according to VOP leader Daniel Villefort, who has been assigned to supervise the VOP on its new assignment.
“All my guys will be active after they’re trained on June 24,” Villefort said.
Law enforcement says the help will be welcome.
“We can’t be everywhere at once, so it’ll be a supplemental help to us,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dep. Shawn Brownell said last month. “Our deputies write parking tickets, but that’s not their main priority. Their main priority is crime calls.”
The department hopes to hone in on parking violations in popular spots like Zuma Beach, Paradise Cove and Pacific Coast Highway near the Malibu Civic Center, Lagoon and Pier.
The group of approximately 10 civilian volunteers currently have the power to issue parking warnings and each VOP member is required to volunteer at least 16 hours per month.
“[The warnings] work surprisingly well,” said Villefort. “I’ll write one up for a car that’s been parked for 24 or 48 hours, and the next day I’ll drive by again and see that they’re gone.”
When asked what would happen if an upset motorist fights a ticket, Villefort admitted he “had no idea.”
“If there’s an emergency, we have a sheriff ’s radio we call for assistance. That happens with everything else we work on,” Villefort said. “But if a person is fighting the ticket I have no doubt that we have to go to court and when I talked with [the sheriff ’s department] they said very few people fight the ticket because we take pictures.”
Since members of the VOP work free-of-charge, the City of Malibu saves money if VOP starts writing up parking violators, City Manager Jim Thorsen said.
“It’s at a great price for the city and we think it’ll be a great way to utilize the VOP team,” he said.
Civic Center parking gets three-hour limit
The council also approved a three-hour parking limit on 29 city-controlled spaces in the Civic Center.
Implementing the limit is expected to cost $2,500 in city funds. The affected spaces are located along Cross Creek Road between PCH and Civic Center Way.
Ten signs will be installed along the affected corridor. The time limit will be enforced seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to city staff.
A three-hour limit should free up more spaces throughout the day, according to staff, after a city survey showed that over nine days, 41 cars parked in the same areas on Cross Creek for “extended periods of time.”
“This program will also be evaluated after the first and fourth years of implementing the program,” according to a staff report.
The signs are expected to be put up near the end of June.