Are Restaurant Owners Blocking Parking Spaces To Ward Off Food Trucks?

An ongoing battle between food trucks and restaurants on the 5700 block of Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile has now reached a new level. According to LAist, passenger vehicles could be taking up all the parking spaces on the boulevard -- on purpose? -- parking there all-day and getting ticketed. Though is no confirmation these cars are from restaurant owners and employees, neighbors are suspicious.

"Apparently, certain drivers (workers at the bricks and mortar restaurants perhaps?) are parking their cars at the meters outside 5700 and leaving them there ALL DAY," an email to LAist from a reader stated. "You can tell something fishy is going down, because when you walk along the sidewalk at lunchtime, every single car has a parking ticket."

The feud between food trucks and restaurants began last summer when an unofficial lunch truck row developed, hindering neighboring businesses and parking in front of existing restaurants.

Food trucks often parked for more than two hours. Most of them didn't obey parking restrictions and merely treated parking tickets issued by the city as a business expense.

Now it looks as if the restaurants are doing the same.

Councilman Tom LaBonge, meanwhile, has proposed food-truck-only parking zones in the area and across the city, an idea that many roach coach operators don't like.