STUCK IN PARK AUTO SPILLOVER RULES FAILING, RESIDENTS SAY.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

SHERMAN OAKS - They doctor parking permits, play cat-and-mouse with parking police and slap bogus stickers on their cars for free rides along off-the-Boulevard curbs.

Preferential parking scofflaws have turned quiet neighborhoods along busy Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley into parking-gridlock hell, some residents say.

``My street is a nightmare,'' said Michael Mattes, chairman of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association committee on parking and a resident of Stern Avenue. ``We have a hair salon, an insurance agency, an architectural firm and other businesses - and their employees all fill up my street.

``There are more fraudulent passes than real ones.''

Other residents report similar violations, and parking officials vow to crack down on abuses of the city's 12-year-old preferential parking system.

``We have no place to park,'' added Chuck Betz, 71, of Mammoth Avenue, a dense neighborhood of apartments and homes one block off the boulevard. ``The parking enforcement people won't enforce it.

``You have to call, keep complaining, then they come out for a couple of days, then they stop coming - then you have to do it all over again.''

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation system grants certain residents preferential parking over nearby businesses. Such districts prohibit interlopers from parking in designated neighborhoods at night, or longer than two hours by day without a sticker permit.

Violators impact city streets, Mattes and others say, because various agencies within the DOT fail - or are unable - to police faulty permits or enforce rules regarding two-hour parking zones.

DOT's Preferential Parking division issues permits but does not enforce parking laws. Valley Parking Enforcement writes tickets but has no access to the permit database. Without such information as to who buys permits and who doesn't, parking police say they can't tell good permits from the bad.

Confusing rules and regulations, moreover, bar officials from effective enforcement, some residents and parking officials say.

The result is an unwelcome spillover into residential neighborhoods by workers or valet operators who otherwise have no place to park.

``They say they are short of manpower, short of equipment and can't enforce the rules,'' Mattes said. ``We have had numerous meetings with all these agencies. ... The situation still exists.''

One parking cop agreed.

``Preferential (parking) is the toughest area to enforce all over the city,'' said parking Officer Larry Brenner, while writing a ticket on Stern Avenue recently. Employers ``buy these phony (stickers) and give them to their employees - and it's wrong. There's nothing we can do.''

The solution, many say, is a common database for parking officers, better coordination of city traffic agencies and clear enforcement of current regulations. And more parking garages.

Public parking historically has been scarce across the Valley because most of the parking garage funds generated by parking meters and citations has gone to other parts of Los Angeles.

Armen Hovanessian, senior transportation engineer and director of on-street parking for the Transportation Department, said his staff has met with Sherman Oaks homeowners and a representative of former City Councilman Mike Feuer to discuss their parking concerns.

``All I can say is we are aware of the problem and are going to do something about it,'' Hovanessian said. ``It hasn't been much of a problem in the past.''

Ventura Boulevard, the Valley's main commercial artery, simply doesn't have enough parking for its legions of shopkeepers, employees and customers.

Just ask the 15 stylists at Salon Branca, on the Boulevard at Stern. They share two slots to park their cars.

Though workers who park in two-hour zones legally have to move their vehicles one mile after their stint is up, parking so far from work is impractical, if not impossible.

And Brenner, eyeing one such violation recently, declined to issue a ticket.

``We'll move from one street to another just so we don't pick on the same house,'' said Kim Donohue, a make-up specialist at Salon Branca. ``We try to be polite.''

Nonetheless, she said, Mattes has been a constant thorn as a self- appointed parking enforcer.

``He's home all day, I think he's a little bored. He sits out on his front lawn,'' Donohue said. ``He films us parking. He freaked out one day. He's very rude. He screams.''

A valet operator parking on an adjacent street agreed, although Mattes denied the complaints.

Some Sherman Oaks residents see no need for any further enforcement.

``I don't think it's a nightmare at all,'' said actress Season Hubley, who lives on Dixie Canyon Avenue, a preferential parking zone. ``It's totally empty in front of my house and the adjacent apartment building.''

All the parking hoopla, she said, ``It's totally bogus.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Parking permits like this one are often fake, say residents near Ventura Boulevard who see spillover parking from businesses.

(2 -- color) A Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association member holds several examples of what he says are fake parking permits.

(3 -- color) Critics say the city of Los Angeles fails to adequately enforce limits on residential street parking near Ventura Boulevard.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer