Prohibitions on RV parking

Re “Parking program targets RVs,” Feb. 13

Memo to homeowners associations in Brentwood and San Pedro: Unless you live in a private community, you do not own the street in front of your house. You can band together and purchase your street from the city if you want to exclude people you don’t like from it, but you won’t be able to go crying to your City Council member about potholes or street trees breaking your sewage line.

As long as we’re talking about parking permits, why does the city only grant them to local residents? The property taxes on the house I rent in Mar Vista finance street improvements from Watts to West Hills. If I want to buy a parking permit for a street in Brentwood, I should have the right to do so. Just because most suburbs are run as private clubs for the convenience of homeowners does not mean that Los Angeles should be.

Peter McFerrin

Los Angeles

The Los Angeles City Council is to be commended for taking steps to deal with large recreational vehicles parked in residential neighborhoods, whether people are living in them or just parking them on the street. But this is not enough.

Just setting up two districts will merely move the problem to other parts of the city, or to other cities, or to unincorporated land in Los Angeles County. These restrictions -- and indeed, a broader prohibition on sleeping overnight in vehicles -- should be expanded citywide.

Other cities, such as San Francisco, have developed comprehensive programs to allow people essentially homeless but living in campers or their cars to park and sleep in approved lots overnight, providing toilets and focused social services to help these individuals. Los Angeles should take similar steps.

It is not discrimination to prohibit overnight camping on city streets. It is sound civic management and protection of the residents and their neighborhoods.

Daniel J. Fink

Los Angeles