MonkeyParking faced legal issues in the past for allowing users to sell street parking in San Francisco, and now they could end up being banned in Los Angeles.
City councilors have called for legislation to ban the app, which is based in San Francisco. The council instructed the city attorney’s office to prepare an ordinance that would prohibit parking spots and other public spaces to be put up for sale, leased, reserved or efforts to facilitate reservations of them.
Those who decide to violate the ban could be hit with fines of at least $250, and they could potentially face up to six months in jail.
One councilman likened the app to pimping out public parking spots. The app’s description says that it connects people looking for parking with driveway-owners.
The councilman continued to say that it was the stealing economy and not the sharing economy because MonkeyParking are taking a public asset and privatizing it.
Paolo Dobrowolny, the CEO of MonkeyParking, defended his business model. He said that the way people have to search for parking today is not working, and it is perceived every single time people are obliged to go in circles, He continued to say that paying a few dollars to know when a parking spot has opened up helps get rid of indirect costs, such as burning fuel when going around in circles.
Dobrowolny also said that MonkeyParking believes in a reservation-based parking, as well as on and off-street. However, he said that they will operate on private parking, so they can prove that they are providing a solution and not trying to monetize a problem.
