AIN’T IT GRAND
Published in the Feb. 7, 2026 issue.
You park illegally in an ADA spot in Mammoth Lakes anywhere in town, it’s gonna cost you a grand.
If you park illegally in the resort zone, that’ll cost you $500.
If you park illegally to the point where you impede traffic or block a hydrant, that’ll cost you $750.
Big city prices … Mammoth wants its guests to feel right at home!
Once again, Mammoth Lakes Town Council addressed the parking issue at its regular meeting held Wednesday in Suite Z.
As Police Chief Dan Casabian noted, the previous increase from $40 to $110 for a resort zone ticket has had zero impact in terms of deterrence.
And the stats back it up.
He said the MLPD wrote 789 citations during the winter of ’23-’24, and 944 the following year. These citations are written from November through April.
This year, with three months to go, the tally is already at 636.
There have also been 46 ADA citations this year at the now former rate of $500 a pop.
Councilman Brent Truax said the bump in fines, based on his research, would make Mammoth comparable to Big Bear.
Public Works Director Haislip Hayes said his research showed a wide range, from $60 in some beach communities to $1,000 in San Francisco for a ticket for impeding traffic.
Parking fines, however, do nothing to address the static supply issue.
Councilman Bill Sauser said “All we’re doing is pushing the parking issue down the road.”
Hayes concurred. “Yes, we’re losing a significant number of spaces, and it’s not our intention to replace those spaces.”
So what are those visitors doing? Or, more to the point, what are employees doing who work at properties that have insufficient parking to accommodate them (i.e The Limelight).
As Kittredge Sports owner Tom Cage pointed out in a note read by Town Clerk Jamie Gray, people are starting to park in the Main Street business area and take the bus from there.
Meaning Main Street businesses are being burdened by the employees of Village-area properties and businesses.
Indeed, as Sauser says, the issue is moving down the road.
Councilmember Chris Bubser can’t really understand why. We have free buses in this town, she said. Why would you drive a car once you get here? She suggested people could park at the airport “and we’ll drive you around [all weekend] for free!”
*Lunch aside: I wonder if she has an SUV with a third row. That would be helpful.
“Tell people the fines are real and we’re coming for you,” she added.
Mayor Amanda Rice dampened the defiant mood by adding a key caveat. “Before we encourage them to take buses, maybe we should make sure we have enough buses.”
Alterra’s VP of Development Tom Hodges offered a pretty good suggestion in encouraging the Town to use underutilized assets like the high school parking lot.
You could run a shuttle through there every 15 minutes, he said.
He did not, however, make any mention of the long-defunct 2007 Village parking garage proposal (The Sheet, Feb. 24, 2007) which would have added 270 spots (where a 40-unit surface lot now sits).
The Town, Mountain and other partners mutually punted that when anticipated developer fees evaporated in the 2008 economic meltdown.
And then the Town never held the feet of future developers to the fire to resurrect the proposal.
But we’re not supposed to talk about that.
On Tuesday, I attended the Inyo Supes meeting in Independence where those in attendance wrung their hands about the potential threat posed by the Golden Mussel to Eastside waters.
But of course, no one supplemented their worry with a pledge of financial support.
What was most interesting about the discussion was the Inyo Board’s willingness to cede policymaking authority to its County Counsel John-Carl Vallejo.
Who elected him?
At one point discussion turned to boat inspections at Diaz Lake.
Currently, inspections are only for those who have a reservation at Diaz.
“We don’t have the staff to scale up [at Diaz],” declared Vallejo.
Ummm, that’s not your decision to make. But no one contradicted him.
Then later, he referenced that Tahoe was spending a lot of money on Golden Mussel prevention, but wouldn’t provide a number.
And it’s not like any Supervisor followed up and asked. Don’t ask, don’t tell.
A Google search provided the answer: $1.1 million.
At one point Mono County’s “Sustainable Recreation Supervisor,” whatever the hell that is, appeared via Zoom. Name of Marcella Rose. She said Mono County has not determined its full level of monetary support – outside of staff time.
Because you need a staffer on the Zoom call.
Bishop Chamber’s Tawni Thomson: We’ve got marketing support for ya, but no cash.
All the cash must be tied up in the new building the Chamber just bought.
Supervisor Jeff Griffiths observed bleakly, “We’re not gonna have a deputy. Fish and Game is not gonna have a warden.” User groups will ultimately have to self-police.
So basically, we’ve already ceded the field.
California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife biologist Nick Buckmaster said the Golden Mussel is a prolific and remarkable creature and it would be cool [to appreciate and study them] if they weren’t so adaptable and destructive.
He predicted a massive impact on electricity rates [due to the amount of extra time and effort required to clean grates and inlets] and a massive impact on fisheries.
While Nero fiddles …
