I-Team Sting surprises businesses parking on the street with disabled signs – NBC Los Angeles

For people who live in a neighborhood next to the Grove, the popular shopping and entertainment hub of Los Angeles, street parking may be impossible as many spaces are occupied by cars with handicap plates. , which allow someone to park almost anywhere for free.

The NBC4 I-Team found the cars were parked by an auto shop called Phoenix Auto Body, which was hogging street parking in the area, putting customers’ cars on residential streets waiting to be serviced. and at measured locations. Often, we observed them holding the spaces by posting signs for people with disabilities.

“It’s extremely difficult to find a parking space here,” said Adam Rosenkranz, who helps manage many apartment buildings near Phoenix Auto Body and constantly receives complaints from tenants. “We have filed numerous complaints with the city, but all of our concerns are effectively being left on deaf ears.”

It is illegal for an auto shop to park its customers’ cars on the streets, under Los Angeles Municipal Code (12.26) which states that “No vehicle…shall be parked…outside the precinct approved… on which the [car repair] the yard is located.”

Phoenix Auto Body also appears to be in violation of state law, Vehicle Code Section 4461, which states that “a person shall not display a handicapped person placard that was not issued to him.”

The I-Team learned about Phoenix Auto Body’s tactics from viewers like Adam Rosenkranz who saw another I-Team investigation in March.

In this report, the I-Team caught two other auto shops in Silverlake illegally monopolizing street parking with their customers’ Porsches and Ferraris awaiting repair.

After the NBC4 report aired, the city of LA ordered these auto shops in Silverlake to stop hogging parking spots with customer cars, and they did, opening up plenty of spots for residents.

“We contacted the I-Team out of frustration and feeling [you] did something in Silver Lake,” Rosenkranz told NBC4.

So I-Team hidden cameras monitored Phoenix Auto Body for over a month and saw one of the owners, named Igor, and his employee named Ingrid, repeatedly park customers’ cars in the streets, sometimes all day, often displaying signs for people with disabilities. .

“I think it’s a horribly egregious action,” Adam Rosenkranz said.

The I-Team discovered that the City of Los Angeles ordered Phoenix Auto Body in 2007 and 2019 to stop parking customer cars on the streets, but a city spokesperson emailed to NBC4 stating that the violations had been corrected over those years.

So, what signs does Phoenix Auto Body use to park customer cars in 2022 on the streets?

The I-Team discovered a sign used to park several cars for free at meters registered in the name of one of the body shop owners, Alex Shabun.

Another sign hung in several Phoenix cars was issued to a man who is now deceased, according to the DMV.

The I-Team spoke to owner Alex Shabun, who told us over the phone, “Yeah, I knew” the store used handicap plates to get free parking spaces for customers’ cars, but he added “I preferred to look at it differently. Shabun told NBC4 that his auto shop would stop using the signs to park cars on the streets, which he said would free up lots of spaces for residents and customers of other businesses in the region.

The I-Team will monitor to see if this is really happening.