Hard to park legally on Pasadena streets overnight

I have neighbor that has permits for three junk cars he parks in front of his house. Literally junkers with plastic sheeting for windows. I guess it is all who you know.

Why can't his roomate get the permit for parking on the street!!

Clean Pasadena, Call Code Compliance and report the cars as eyesores. As for the guy having so much problems - all he needs to do is go online at the DMV or go to AAA and have them change his address that reflects his new Pasadena address. HIs father needs to write a letter stating that he owns the car and that his son is driving it. Overnight parking is done by permit because there is not enough parking in Pasadena due to overdevelopment and many households having more than 3 cars. If everyone parked on the street at night it would be ridiculous. Many of these new developments go up and they only give one parking space.

Clean Pasadena, Call Code Compliance and report the cars as eyesores. As for the guy having so much problems - all he needs to do is go online at the DMV or go to AAA and have them change his address that reflects his new Pasadena address. HIs father needs to write a letter stating that he owns the car and that his son is driving it. Overnight parking is done by permit because there is not enough parking in Pasadena due to overdevelopment and many households having more than 3 cars. If everyone parked on the street at night it would be ridiculous. Many of these new developments go up and they only give one parking space.

Rules are rules. I don't like the parking permits rules either, but they are the rules (primarily b/c Pasadena is overdeveloped and there isn't adequate parking). I have to pay an annual business license fee to the city of Pasadena who provides me with ZERO value - i can complain all I want - but those are the rules. There are bigger topics for us to be worried about than overnight parking permits (especially when there is an easy solution to simply changing an address as "Pasadena Parking" suggested).

The question of there being no room to park on the streets is highly dependent on where you live. My street in the eastern part of the city, for example, has plenty of extra parking. No argument that there are bigger issues for us to pay attention to... doesn't mean that we can't focus in on a smaller issue on this blog now and again.

I have called, and the next day he has his junkers out on the street again.

Above post is mine responding to Parking Pasadena, sorry for any confusion.

Here's my question to "Pasadena Parking": if there's not enough on-street parking in Pasadena, how does paying for the permit make more magically appear ? The fact is there is plenty of street parking available in MOST parts of Pasadena. In fact, in the most heavily congested areas of Pasadena (such as the Madison Ave between California and Cordove) the overnight parking restriction are waived. So how does that help eliminate congestion ? Additionally, if you have to pay - why make the process so onerous? So long as the vehicle is registered in California they should issue a permit. Do you (or does the City of Pasadena) think that Pasadena street parking is so attractive and so valuable that people are bringing their cars here just to park at night... C'mon... And I ABSOLUTELY agree with Isaac about the worthless City Business License. I pay approximately $700 a year and own a small construction company which does no business in Pasadena. I pay the same rate as Parsons but since I run my business out of a residential address I am forbidden to have trucks or more than a few employees (regardless of the fact that none of this stuff happens at the residential address). But I disagree that the parking is a minor issue. Since I am also a property manager I know first hand how much aggravation this causes my tenants. Again - they are happy to pay the permit fee but since some of them are students with cars registered to their home addresses (read: lower insurance), or are provided with business vehicles by their employers (try getting those registered to your home address) the permit process is extremely difficult. My family has lived in "Madison Heights" for almost 100 years, and I love Pasadena - but how about addressing the quality of life issues instead and make the parking permits a little easier to get...

Roger, I understand your angst. However there is not enough parking in Pasadena period. How would you feel if you could not parking in front of your house in case you live in a condo because the residents and their guests are using the parking space in front of your house? Certain streets are exempt from overnight parking - certain areas of town are "preferential parking" areas and parking is strictly for resident parking only. I live by PCC and if I want to come home on my lunch hour and park in front of my house - forget it. Why? because the students of PCC don't and can't buy parking passes so they are utilizing the side streets. I have run out of room so I will post again.

Roger, I also believe that the process should be revamped and done online. Unfortunately as with most government offices there are policies and procedures that are followed and they take up a lot of time and are aggrevating to say the least - so I totally agree with you on that. However - there is not ample parking in Pasadena - possibly the areas that you live in - but because of economic conditions we have several families living in the same house and when there are more than 4 cars - it tends to be very problematic. This is just my opinion - but this is a result of the overbuilding of Pasadena - plain and simple.

You're making my point for me, Pasadena Parking... My point is that if the permits were easier to obtain, more people would get them and Pasadena could manage the situation more easily. Instead, they are forcing people into the "temporary parking permit" scam. This solution is $3 per night (and used to be free with a phone call). As for living next to PCC, I understand the issue, and the City should have done more to mitigate the problem (or PCC should provide more affordable and obtainable parking), but that doesn't change the fact that there's a TON of street parking available in MOST of Pasadena. I live off South Lake and there's plenty here. I DO agree with you that the City should have moved to cut development a long time ago, since the Pasadena I grew up in is long gone and the reasons people moved here back in the day have pretty much evaporated. If you want to see aggressive development control - look up the cost to Santa Barbara which is still a pretty livable community, or Carmel. Or do like I do more and more - leave the car at home (if you can find a place to park it) and ride a bike!

Years ago I had a permit to park on a Pasadena street in front of my house. I was ticketed anyway even though my sticker was clearly in plain view on my windshield. I still had to pay the fine before getting a court date and seeing a judge to dismiss the charges. After all was said and done, I had to wait weeks before a refund was sent out in the mail. A year later the exact same thing happened all over again. The City charges for a permit to park, but in my case they charged me for continual harassment.

Roger - I was born and raised here in Pasadena and long for the good old days. I don't even recognize the place anymore. To clarify what I am trying to say about Pasadena not having enough parking ... do you know how many people scream that they don't want parking in their neighborhoods? That is how we have restriced parking. Many of the areas off of South Lake are preferential parking neighborhoods due to Poly and Cal Tech. Everyone wants a parking space - but it better not be in front of your house if you want to park there! Just-Rog - Parking Enforcement is horrible. Fire the service and put it in the hands of Pasadena police department. why did we reinstate the contract of the enforcement business when there were so many complaints???

How about free permits for homeowners to park in front of their own homes.

I also don't understand how the parking violations bureau can be so unreasonable. I had to park my car on the street because work was being done to my house and the construction company need to put a bin in my parking space. I bought a permit, put it in my window, however I forgot to put my plate number on it. The permit is a teeny weeny piece of paper, already hard to read. Woke the next morning with a citation on my window. I spent the money, did what I was supposed to do, thereafter requested a reconsideration, but was denied... Will be going to fight this ridiculous ticket fee out of principle. There is definitely something wrong with the system in total.

Not sure if anyone knows this or not. I live on Lincoln close to westgate. I was told that the sign on Lincoln and Howard which is a longggggggggggggggg stretch from my house to there applied for the whole block of Lincoln. I think this is crazy but hey nobody cares what we think, pasadena just wants to keep getting rich off of you and me.

My situation is pretty bad also..I had the same issue with getting a permit because I had my dads vehicle. Now that I have one it does me no good. Every morning at 6am I have to get up and move my car to a road 1 block away. Then move it back again sometime before 2AM. Yet..they wont give me a permit for the road that is 1 block away so I wouldn't ever have to move my car when there is almost always space available.

I am from Idaho and stayed overnight at my sisters house on Magnolia Ave near California Blvd. I got a $39.50 ticket for illegally parking overnight. There was plenty of parking on her street and no signs about overnight parking. The only sign was "2 hour limit 9AM - 6PM". I did not drive around town to find signs about parking code. Why would I? Wouldn't a warning be appropriate for out-of-town guest?

I received a bogus parking citation in Pasadena. The sign indicated "ONE HOUR PARKING". After 50 minutes I moved my car 100-200 feet down the street, but I received a citation anyway. I later found that the city's ordinance allows a car to be parked no more than one hour on the ENTIRE BLOCK. I fought with the city about this and said that their street sign is misleading, but of course I got nowhere. Pasadena SUCKS and I encourage everyone to avoid that city until it cleans up its act and stops ripping off people. City Manager and Mayor, I hope you're reading this. PASADENA SUCKS!

I recently parked overnight, while going to my boyfriend's house in Pasadena. The street had plenty of parking and I checked all visible signage. There were NO signs that said that parking was by permit only or illegal from 2-6 am. I would happily have obtained parking elsewhere had I been able to find that information. There are plenty of parking signs on the street along with meters. There is not one piece of information to help a person understand what they are getting into. I live in Los Angeles, we have plenty of parking issues here, however (for the most part) we do have signs that express when you can and cannot park. I would have bought a permit had I known you needed one to avoid a ticket. It seems to me that the this is entrapment and the city is not giving anyone a fair shake. I sent in a letter and they just sent back a form letter (they must send out a lot) that there are signs posted off the freeway exits and lights. I exit the freeway in Pasadena several times a week and have NEVER seen that. Nor would I think that I should look on the Freeway exit or light post for parking instructions while I am driving. Generally we look at the parking signs posted on the street for that. With all the tourism Pasadena gets it seems pretty dirty that they would have to resort to these kind of tactics for revenue. Shame on you!

Same situation as Annissa. Utterly ridiculous. The rule has been in place for 50 years, and you're telling me you can't put the rule on your standard meter sticker? It's meant to be misleading in order to generate revenue. I plan to ignore it. If they want to recover the $40, they're gonna have to spend 10x as much in admin to place a hold on my car registration. In the meantime, I will talk bad about the city and avoid spending my dollars there.

This is ridiculous. We parked in front of the house that my son is renting. We were traveling from NC and did not think to look for parking signs at the freeway exits!! THere were NO signs posted near the curbs as you would normally see in other cities. We law abiding citizens and would have readily parked in a different location if we thought we were in the wrong. I have contested the ticket but was sent a pat response. I feel this is wrong. They need to consider that out of town guests may not be aware of the parking rules. After all....we bring in alot of revenue to Pasadena...especially having a student there! It would be nice to atleast waive the first offense!

It is sad that even homeowners who park their car outside, for any numerous reasons, wake up the next morning to see an expensive ticket on their windshield. If you thought Pasadena was ungrateful to out-of-towners, just wait till you move to Pasadena and you get a ticket right in front of your house. Also those signs that state no overnight parking, half the time are blocked by the big mass transit busses, i.e. Allen Ave exit from the 210 west freeway, etc..

I absolutely agree. Pasadena's overnight parking requirements are ridiculous, and the lack of appropriate signage is even worse. If the city is going to deem parking illegal on a street for a certain amount of time, they need to erect signs stating the limitation. Posting signs on freeway exits (which, by the way on the main Lake exit, is completely hidden by a tree) is wholly inadequate and fails to even live up to the city's own notice laws. It's beyond repulsive.

I absolutely agree. Pasadena's overnight parking requirements are ridiculous, and the lack of appropriate signage is even worse. If the city is going to deem parking illegal on a street for a certain amount of time, they need to erect signs stating the limitation. Posting signs on freeway exits (which, by the way on the main Lake exit, is completely hidden by a tree) is wholly inadequate and fails to even live up to the city's own notice laws. It's beyond repulsive.

Unfortunately, I think we have the worst case among all of you by far. My brother and sister and I bought a 3-bedroom townhouse in Pasadena a year ago but our house only had a two car garage. There was absolutely no additional parking space within our property but there were plenty of parking spaces on the street right in front of our house. We heard we needed annual parking permits to park over night and we applied with the city but our application was denied. They told us it was because our property was built after the year 2000 and no annual over-night street parking permits could be obtain by residents on such a property. We had three adults that live in the house and each of us were working. We thought hard of other ways to accommodate for our three cars but we just could not think of anything. In the end, my older brother sold his car and bought a motorcycle to commute to work. He was not used to riding a motorcycle and two months ago he got into a very serious accident that could have cost his life. Not wanting to risk any of our safety anymore, we had no choice but to sell out townhouse in this depressed housing market and lost almost a hundred thousand dollars. We loved Pasadena and wanted to live there but now all we have are bitter tastes in our mouths.

Unfortunately, I think we have the worst case among all of you by far. My brother and sister and I bought a 3-bedroom townhouse in Pasadena a year ago but our house only had a two car garage. There was absolutely no additional parking space within our property but there were plenty of parking spaces on the street right in front of our house. We heard we needed annual parking permits to park over night and we applied with the city but our application was denied. They told us it was because our property was built after the year 2000 and no annual over-night street parking permits could be obtain by residents on such a property. We had three adults that live in the house and each of us were working. We thought hard of other ways to accommodate for our three cars but we just could not think of anything. In the end, my older brother sold his car and bought a motorcycle to commute to work. He was not used to riding a motorcycle and two months ago he got into a very serious accident that could have cost his life. Not wanting to risk any of our safety anymore, we had no choice but to sell out townhouse in this depressed housing market and lost almost a hundred thousand dollars. We loved Pasadena and wanted to live there but now all we have are bitter tastes in our mouths.

I have more than 20 tickets for overnight parking because the city won't give sell me an annual pass for the city I LIVE IN, and I can't afford to pay 4 DOLLARS PER DAY to live here. This is wrong when someone in their own city can't even park in front of their house. I was told by the city that I can't get a permit because we have one space to park in, and that is the alloted amount. It's not fair.

I was in Pasadena the past couple of days and, like some previous posters, received a ticket for "overnight parking" on a street which *only* had a sign saying "2 hour parking 9 to 6." The fact that Pasadena has an ordinance for no over night parking, but doesn't post it on any sign, or when you enter the city, is shockingly dishonest and clearly targeting visitors for money. The fact that there are streets which do say "over night permit only" makes it even more deceptive. The parking department should be ashamed of themselves for this policy. If you are going to have a policy like this, you should at least note it somewhere. Even my friends who regularly visit the area are unaware of it. Apparently the only way to find out about this ordinance is the hard way....

I moved to Pasadena in 2008 to attend the prestigious design school in Pasadena. Before, I lived in Los Angeles for over 10 years, and owned 3 cars. After selling 2, I kept one for commute to-and-from school. I do not have the time to keep a part-time job, therefore my main income source are scholarships, grants, educational loans, and so on. Here's where everything went monkeys. My first studio in Pasadena has NO parking structure (Chestnut St.). Parking are on the sidestreet only. NO visible sign of what or when to park either. Within 1 year, I have accumulated 20+ citations that I couldn't fight back, and they impounded my one and only car. To pay them and get my car back, I had to use my educational funds, which totalled up to $2500 plus. This depletes my savings as well, therefore causing extreme financial hardship for over the whole summer of 2009. I couldn't even RE-register my car and/or RE-new my license (just so happened expires Aug. 09) because I had no money. By fall semester of 2009 I received more educational fundings, and planned to take care of things. But, to no avail; schoolwork was so time consuming and energy depleting, I managed to put parking permit, car registration, and license issue into last priority. I DID NOT want to fail my classes, because all my funding source CAME from me excelling in these fields of study. Come to 2010, I have accrued more tickets, another 20+. Just yesterday, I straightened things out w/ the DMV, and even THEY were perplexed on how things came about this way. For the first time ever, DMV personnels were on my side, at least sympathizing and questioning whether this aggressive citing practice is ethically sound. In the end, I have spent over 4500 for this issue alone. My self-esteem was the lowest yet, never thought of such foolish mistake can lead to such excessive punishment. Surely I'm an extreme example, and there's a whole spectrum of other ill-experiences in between. So. To the head and body of Transportation Department of Pasadena; I am a student from Art Center College of Design. My department IS Transportation Design. Our students, graduates, and alumni designed, thought about, and made happen just about 99% of everything moving on the street right now. It is our business to seek improvement and address trouble. Having said that, this overly aggressive parking policies and enforcement is causing financial entrapment while kept in disguise as a "solution". Well, this system is ethically wrong and punitive at best. There are MANY OTHER SOLUTIONS to address the lack of parking spaces, and there should be NO EXCUSE for a small town with a $580 million annual revenue (along with around $60 million in excess) to not explore a better, if not much more elegant solution. Just a reminder, JPL, Caltech, and PCC, are among the biggest employer, densely populated community, which in turn, made Pasadena's socio-economy more lively. Yet, the "Rules" must nickel-and-dime them? Tis a blemish in an otherwise great cultural epicenter in the greater LA area.

Omg! I recently moved into a 3 bedroom town home on Catalina ave. I do not know the roommates very well. they both park in the garage. I knew prior to moving in that I had to street park. I was told the permit annually was $100. After I move in I go to City of Pasadena and try to apply for a permit. The actual cost is $63/ yr if I have proof on my roommates car registration registered in California and at our address. I had a big argument with one of the roommates b/c he doesn't want to reg his car in CA. He registered his car in Virginia. I paid my dues like most people and followed the law and I have my car registered in CA so why doesn't he? So b/c he doesn't have proof his car is registered here...I have to now pay $252/yr to street park! Its outrageous. And get this he doesn't want to help pay for the difference. Pasadena is very picky about issuing those permits!

Recently visited Pasadena for a wedding and drove around and around until finally saw a street spot which said "2 Hour limit 9AM to 6PM." Then of course came back to the car next morning to find a $42.50 ticket. I disputed the ticket and have just received a letter stating the ticket is upheld because "Signs advising motorists/visitors are posted at freeway exits and at the entrance and major thoroughfares." I have some news for whatever idiot is in charge of this stupid stupid policy. PARKING information, in all reasonable cities, is posted where people PARK. Not where you are driving by at 50 mph. This is a total rip off. Way to alienate your guests. At the very least you could waive or discount fees for out of town/first time offenders, you know this policy is a complete abuse of power. Pasadena sucks!

If you want to own a car you have to supply a place to park it, not foist that enjoyment on your fellow Pasadenans. It is like renting a place without a bathroom and complaining that you can't use city park facilities on a regular basis, placing a burden on the public infrastructure for private needs. It goes hand in hand with allowing (profitable for the developers) high density developments without adequate open space or parking, kids playing in the street and cars everywhere. This is a recipe for urban decay, one of the many little changes made in response to poor-mouthing that advances a city from nice to crappy. Cities that allow rampant overnight parking turn into a Berkeley or Garden Grove, no parking, streets clogged with cars and abandoned junkers everywhere. No thank you, you came to the wrong city go live somewhere else. Prohibiting overnight parking allows the police to spot abandoned stolen cars and junkers to remove them. It also allows the streets to be cleaned efficiently. It also prevents people from storing their car collections on the streets, pressuring people to obtain a private space so our streets don't become parking lots. They also prohibit other vulgarities like parking cars and your broken major appliance collection on your front lawn. Even given that, the city allows temporary overnight parking for residents at a paltry $4 per night rate. Residents can even get yearly permits for all of $63, to park next to their residence. If you can't afford this you should not be owning a car, any more than you should be driving an uninsured, unsafe or polluting car to the detriment of everyone else. The bottom line is that you can't complain if you purchase a car without first obtaining a place to keep it. You pay less rent because you rented a place without parking, you made that deal and we don't want to listen to your angst about not being able our streets into your garage. No I do not support laws enabling this kind of behavior here. Rent a parking space, get rid of your car or move to some Crapville locale that allows this.

We are likewise frustrated with how all this is turning out. After finding out about the overnight parking regulations, we've tried our best to follow the rules and fill out the proper forms. There are 4 adults in our household, we live in a 3 bedroom town home with a 2 car garage. We understand the need to street sweep and monitor the streets for safety. We were perfectly willing to pay $63 to get a sticker, if that makes it easier for authorities to track who belongs in the neighborhood and who doesn't. However we received notice today that we do not have "sufficiently compelling reason" to be granted exemption from the overnight parking restriction. They gave us the same reasons they provided "Parking Permit Anguish" above. We were told we had the right to appeal the decision, but would need to pay a processing fee of $100 for the appeal. And even that's not a guarantee that we would get a permit. It feels like we're being milked for money...