Letters to the Editor: A government bureaucracy bends on free parking? Miracles happen

To the editor: Reading the op-ed article, “I paid my fee at the DMV with $24 and a book of my poetry. Miracles do happen,” I was reminded of my recent experience with a government entity.

Last week I responded to an email from the Los Angeles Department of Transportation seeking volunteers to conduct a survey of pedestrians and bicyclists in the area. Being passionate about this issue, I responded.

Later, at the orientation meeting, when asked about providing parking for volunteers, the response was the typical bureaucratic, “We unfortunately do not have parking in our building, but there is plenty of public parking nearby. Or, use alternate modes of transport; we are within walking distance of the Red Line.”

But I protested, politely though, saying that’s too much of them to expect of us volunteers, especially when we are providing free services and paying for the gas. Can’t LADOT at least provide some parking for us? After a couple of emails, we received instructions on how to use the “free parking” right behind the LADOT office.

My point is better stated in the words of op-ed writer and poet Jane Marla Robbins: “I want only to celebrate that people still exist who think out of the box, who choose to be kind to strangers — that even in a big city, something that feels like a miracle can happen.”

Kamesh Aysola, Chatsworth

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To the editor: Great story. I wish your paper would solicit and print more stories of a kinder world.

Esther Lainer, Los Angeles