Handicapped Placards and Parking Fraud
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If you've ever wondered whether all the drivers with disabled placards were really disabled, the DMV says more than one third probably aren't. But privacy laws don't even allow enforcement officers to ask. LA Times columnist Steve Lopez has found entire blocks of downtown LA full of cars with disabled placards, staying all day long. We hear from him and a DMV official who says state law makes it hard to crack down. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, one of America's political traditions: scapegoating other countries during presidential campaigns.
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Main Topic
Four-dollar Meters, the DMV and Disabled Parking Abuse ()
About ten percent of California drivers have disabled placards, and the Department of Motor Vehicles renews 2.1 million every other year. It's hard to get angry when the best parking space is taken by somebody with a such a placard hanging from the rear view mirror. But when the driver seems not to be disabled at all, it's another matter. When entire blocks of downtown Los Angeles are taken up with supposedly disabled parkers, it may be time to get mad. Steve Lopez was mad enough to write two columns about it in last week's LA Times. We hear from him and from Mike Marando of the California DMV.
Guests:
- Steve Lopez: Columnist, Los Angeles Times, @LATstevelopez
- Mike Marando: California Department of Motor Vehicles
Links:
Main Topic
America's Presidential Campaign through Foreign Eyes ()
The presidential campaign is focused on American voters, but the President is the commander-in-chief and the architect of foreign policy. How does the idea of "European-style socialism" go down in France and Germany? How do Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and other Republican hopefuls sound in China, Israel, Iran and other parts of the world?
Guests:
- Uri Friedman: Foreign Policy magazine, @UriLF
- Dominique Moisi: French Institute of International Relations
- Karsten Voigt: German Council of Foreign Relations
- Suisheng 'Sam' Zhao: University of Denver
- Borzou Daragahi: Financial Times, @borzou
- Shmuel Rosner: Jerusalem Post, @rosnersdomain
Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which supports study and research into policy issues of the Los Angeles region.
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