Parking in LA sucks

[DonkeyKongSr]

This is pretty obvious, but for those that aren't from big cities, here's my story of how [censored] up it all is.

I moved here last Friday for a new job (Wilshire and San Vicente for those that know the area) from Orange County where parking is mostly free and plentiful. That day I ask about getting a parking space and my work informs me that parking isn't paid by the company, something they forgot to tell me in the interview. I ask how much it is...$110/month. That's crazy. That's pretty much half price of paying the full day rate of $11/day.

So, when looking for a place to live, I decide to look for something close by that I can walk from. I found a place almost exactly a half mile away. Sweet. Well, I have a roommate and without getting into too much detail, we have one non-street parking space, so one person needs to park on the street. On this street from 8AM-6PM, you can only park for 2 hours, unless you have a permit, which is like $30/year. Annoying rules, but reasonable price.

I drive to work today and at lunch pay $11 to leave after working just 3 hours and go get my permit. I go inside the permit place, get a number, and go get the form. Once I read the form, I feel like shooting someone. First, I must have proof of residence in that "parking zone". WTF? I just moved and I'm not on any lease or going to be on any of the bills, so I don't have anything to show them. I figure I'll have to come back and have my roommate get me the permit...but wait, that would be too [censored] easy. The form says the car that the permit is for must be registered at that address as well. Blow me LA. I walk out and somehow get charged $6 for the little time I'm parked in their damn garage.

Now I've got to deal with the damn DMV to get my address changed on my registration, then I have to get my roommate to go down and get me the permit. Until then, I have to play musical chairs with my car every 2 hour or pay $11 to park at work.

Anybody in LA had this same problem? If I waited at the permit place for a half hour, could I have told them my situation and not have to mess with the registration address change and bringing in my roommate? I'm hoping the rules aren't strict as they seem to be.

Cliffs Notes: Spent $17 on about 3.5 hours of parking today and find out that I can't even park on my own street for more than 2 hours or get a permit to do so because I don't have myself or my car registered as living at my new address yet.