City Council to Consider Valet Parking Regulations

The Los Angeles City Council will consider new regulations for valet parking services as early as next month.

The council's Public Safety Committee voted Friday to forward to the full 15-member council an ordinance that would require a valet operator to get a master permit, check employees' backgrounds and carry liability insurance, as well as prohibit valets from using public street parking without permission, the Los Angeles Times reported.

If approved by the full council, the new rules would first go into effect in Hollywood, then be phased in across the city.

Some valets have been accused of damaging vehicles and failing to cover the costs of repairs, while others have been accused of stealing valuables from vehicles. Some rogue operators have drawn the ire of residents parking cars across driveways, monopolizing metered spots and speeding in reverse into parking spots.

"It has been the wild, wild West at our curbs," Yusef Robb, a spokesman for Councilman Eric Garcetti, told The Times. "This ordinance is the equivalent of bringing the marshals to town to get a handle on it."

In 2009, Garcetti and other council members asked the City Attorney's Office to draft an ordinance. Elements of it were modeled on rules in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Pasadena and West Hollywood, Maria Souza-Rountree of the office of the council's Chief Legislative Analyst.

The Police Commission would issue licenses. Valet operators would probably pay a few hundred dollars annually for the company permit and an additional $100 per worker, Robb said.