TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2004
Volume 3, Issue 119
FR EE
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
L O T T O
Market control could create chain reaction
Tangled in tofu
FANTASY 5 5, 6, 13, 16, 31 DAILY 3 Afternoon picks: 5, 6, 1 Evening picks: 0, 6, 4 DAILY DERBY 1st Place: 02, Lucky Star 2nd Place: 04, Big Ben 3rd Place: 12, Lucky Charms
Officials worry too many corporate stores will hurt downtown business
Race Time: 1:42.70
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
BY JOHN WOOD Daily Press Staff Writer
by Chuck Shepard
Ms. Farrah Daly, 27, who told officers (upon her arrest for allegedly stealing $1 million in jewels from her employer) that she was too "cute" to go to prison, was sentenced to three years in prison (Akron, Ohio). And a 30-year-old man challenged as unconstitutional the police search of his 18-monthold son's diaper that produced a stash of cocaine (a search the police defended as legal, in that they had noticed a "large load" in the diaper (Evansville, Ind.). And a restaurant selling only dishes made with Hormel Spam opened in an upscale shopping mall in Manila, Philippines.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“You’ve really got to start hitting the books because it’s no joke out here.”
Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press
Three lucky men wrestle with animal rights activist Kayla Warden and former Penthouse pet Kira Eggers in a swimming pool of tofu on Monday at the corner of Broadway and the Third Street Promenade. The stunt was staged by the activist group, ‘People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals’ to promote tofu instead of meat consumption.
Horoscopes Use the a.m. well, Cancer . . . . . . . .2
Local Samohi baseball bats one in . . . . .3
State Lifeguards need a life line . . . . . . .5
Opinion
(Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series that examines the multi-million dollar business of parking tickets in Santa Monica.) BY JAMIE WETHERBE Special to the Daily Press
CITY HALL — For most Santa Monicans, forgetting to pay a parking ticket means higher fines, the boot, even a tow. But one Santa Monican has learned how to fight the system — and he’s let $450 in parking citations go unpaid without hearing a word from City Hall. His secret? The out-of-state plates on his SUV. The resident, who asked not to be named,
Santa Monica leads the race in high prices By The Associated Press
Mommy Page
National White House keeps a lid on Rice .15
racked up more than 10 parking tickets in the past year and hasn’t paid a dime. Not only hasn’t he been contacted by City Hall, he also hasn’t been hit with late fees. Not so with the same resident’s second car. The fines for two unpaid parking tickets on the second vehicle — which has California plates — have doubled to $94 a piece because of his delinquency. While city officials said out-of-state cars should be booted and towed after five citations, they admitted there’s little else they can do to catch scofflaws. When most tickets go unpaid after 90 days, a hold is put on the renewal of the car owner’s driver’s license at the California Department of Motor Vehicles. But for out-of-
staters, that’s not standard procedure. Santa Monica Police Department Lt. Frank Fabrega said traffic service officers carry machines that indicate if there are five or more outstanding tickets issued in Santa Monica or West Hollywood to a particular license plate. If there are five or more, traffic officers contact the California DMV to verify the unpaid tickets before they boot or tow the car. The process takes 30 seconds and is done regardless of where the car’s license plates are from, Fabrega added. “Could be California, could be any state,” he said. Parking tickets are expected to generate See TICKETS, page 4
Adding fuel to the fire: Gas prices climb in CA
Fed up with city crime . . . . . . . . . .7
Bad behaving teenagers . . . . . . . .10
See RETAIL, page 4
Santa Monica: A friendly place to park?
– Spike Lee
INDEX
PROMENADE — Officials charged with managing downtown Santa Monica are calling for a special meeting with City Hall, saying the debate over regulating chain stores on the Third Street Promenade needs to finally be laid to rest. Directors of Bayside District Corp., a nonprofit organization that runs downtown, said they want city leaders to focus on vagrancy and the lack of parking downtown. They say the effort to control the mix of large and small merchants on the thriving thoroughfare should be scraped. The contentious issue has been batted back and forth for at least seven years. “The issue with the large stores — it’s done, it’s not going to happen again,” said Johannes Van Tilberg, a
THE GAS PUMP — There is little chance that gas prices, which have reached a record high, will fall significantly in the near future, a national analyst says. Gas prices climbed another 3
cents in the past two weeks, said Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg survey, which regularly surveys 8,000 stations nationwide. The nationwide average in the past two weeks is $1.80 for all grades, a new record high, Lundberg said. Santa Monica has some of the highest gas prices in the country, a Monday survey shows.
At Chevron at Lincoln and Santa Monica boulevards, it was $2.29 for a gallon of regular unleaded, 87 octane. At Ultramart, 1348 Pico Blvd., a gallon of 89 octane was $2.25 and at the Chevron on Pacific Coast Highway and Entranda Drive, it was $2.49 for high octane. In Malibu, high octane went for $2.85 a gallon at the 76 station on PCH.
We will miss you Chuck! www.santamonicamusic.com
Increased demand will likely result from an improving economy, Memorial Day travel, and even the extra hour of light from daylight savings time, Lundberg said. “The demand push this time of year is adding to supply tightness and therefore price,” Lundberg said. “I don’t see any recipe for substantial gasoline price cuts anytime soon.”
IZZY’S WILL MAKE YOUR
HOLIDAY SPECIAL! LET US PREPARE YOUR HOLIDAY DINNER FROM SOUP TO DESSERT
CHUCK NILES 1927-2004
1433 Wilshire Blvd at 15th St
Jazz Radio Legend
310-394-1131
Open 24 Hours