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Coral Gables might add SUVs, mini-vans to parking ordinance
The city's truck ordinance doesn't allow residents to park pickups in their own driveways overnight. SUVs and mini-vans could be targeted next.
©Associated Press
April 20, 2003
CORAL GABLES -- This affluent city, which has ordinances governing what color residents may paint the outside and inside of their homes and bans people from parking pickups overnight in their own driveways, may be making its image-conscious rules even tighter.
A Coral Gables city attorney said Friday that the rule governing pickup parking could be expanded to cover sport utility vehicles and minivans.
"The city may have to look at the codes again," said the attorney, Elizabeth Hernandez. "The question is now, 'Do we need to clarify the rules when federal guidelines describe SUVs as trucks?' "
The city's truck ordinance has been on the books for three decades. Some lawmakers in Coral Gables, whose tourism slogan is the "City Beautiful," say pickups are unsightly and not consistent with the image they want for the city.
The owner of a Ford pickup is suing the city after being fined $50 for parking his truck in front of his home, which does not have a garage. Lowell Kuvin's brother and attorney, Spencer Kuvin, said if the city wants a no-truck rule, then SUVs and minivans should also be banned.
"It's ridiculous because there are bigger vehicles in his neighborhood," Spencer Kuvin said. "Some people are driving Cadillac Escalades and Chevy Suburbans -- and they don't get ticketed. That's unfair."
Car industry officials say the law is discriminatory and should be re-evaluated.
"Obviously, no one should be discriminated against because of the type of car they drive," said Eron Shosteck, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
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