parking

TOMMY Fury parked his G Wagon in a disabled bay while on a day out with partner Molly-Mae Hague.

The boxer and TV personality, 26, headed on a family trip in Manchester with Molly-Mae and their two-year-old daughter Bambi.

Love Island alums Tommy and Molly-Mae looked relaxed as the trio arrived at a park.

Molly-Mae wore a pair of black trousers, which were accompanied by an oversized grey jumper.

As for Tommy, he opted for tracksuit bottoms, a long-sleeved black top along with a black gilet.

He could be seen playfully holding Bambi and also carrying her, as she looked into the distance.

NOT READY

Molly-Mae reveals why she’s refusing to put £600k engagement ring on

TOMMY’S GUNS

Tommy Fury shows off hench body with bulging biceps after triathlon scandal

Elsewhere, Molly-Mae, 26, marked series two of her Prime Video series Behind It All being released.

It comes as she recently revealed why she’s refusing to put her £600k engagement ring back on – despite reuniting with Tommy.

The couple originally split over cheating allegations last summer, but ultimately got back together officially in May.

Speaking in series two episode one, the fashion designer explained that she wanted some kind of gesture from Tommy before wearing the ring again.

She said: “I’m not putting my ring back on yet just because I don’t feel quite ready.

“And also because I would kinda quite like for him to make a kind of a gesture.

“Not ask me again. That’s a lot but just a nice dinner or something.

“Just to like have that moment of ok, I’ll wear my ring again.”

Following this, Molly-Mae added the two were back together, although still living apart.

Meanwhile, Tommy has denied the cheating allegations but revealed that alcohol played a major part in their split last summer.

Tommy spoke about his lowest points in an interview and revealed he feared his drinking would see him end up in a ditch.

He said: “The turnaround point was in December I thought ‘I can’t do this anymore, I cannot do it’.

“I was like ‘something needs to change’ or else I’m going to end up in a ditch because that was the way I was going.

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“I often said that to my brother most night and my mates, they all know that.”

Tommy and Molly-Mae have been rebuilding their relationship since they kissed at Man Utd star Luke Shaw’s Hogmanay party in Cheshire last year.

Sitting in a chair on Thursday night as fans came into SoFi Stadium to watch high school football games between Loyola and Gardena Serra and Leuzinger against Palos Verdes, you can hear the different reactions of first-time visitors as they climbed escalators and stairs to reach their seats.

Many were in awe.

“This is nice.”

“Wow. This stadium is so different.”

“I can’t believe I paid $80 for a high school game.”

The games have been put together by Playbook Events. Teams have to give up revenue they would make from hosting their own games. Parking costs $10 while student and adult tickets range from $29 to $71. Usual student tickets are $10 at home sites.

It’s clear players enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime experience to play in a prestigious NFL stadium that will host the swimming competition at the 2028 Olympic Games. And first-time visitors who’ve never been able attend a concert or NFL game at SoFi because of cost are truly impressed with the seating and experience.

But there’s also some issues that could enhance the experience. One fan suggested better directions on where to park and how to pay for parking, since only credit cards are accepted, and lots of grandparents are not tech savvy on how to purchase tickets online or which entrance to take to find the parking lot. Schools need to provide more specific instructions. Organizers are also requiring fans to sign a waiver when entering, leading to long lines if you don’t arrive early.

The cost for fans can be prohibitive, which means schools need to take that into account when agreeing to play a game at SoFi. The organizers certainly know what they are doing. Games start on time and security is plentiful and helpful for first-time visitors.

Loyola athletic director Chris O’Donnell said, “For this kind of experience, for both teams, it’s really great. I’d do this again in a second.”

The next big game at SoFi Stadium happens Thursday at 5 p.m. when unbeaten Los Alamitos plays Huntington Beach Edison.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

A HUNT for a gang of brazen thieves has been launched after 17 cars were stolen from holidaymakers on a cruise.

The motors were lifted from a special “secure” parking facility in Southampton, overnight.

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The special parking site is operated by Southampton Cruise Parking Services and is touted as “secure” storage for vehicles.

Police said they were working closely with the firm in a bid to capture the thieves.

The holidaymakers vehicles were taken between 9 and 10 September, cops said.

Police were called early the next morning and when they arrived at the parking facility they discovered the motors had been swiped.

So far, only six of the 17 stolen motors have been recovered by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary.

Officers are appealing for any witnesses to come forward to assist with their investigation into the mass motor theft.

Did you have your car stolen? Email [email protected]

A spokesman for Hampshire Constabulary said: “We are appealing for witnesses following the theft of 17 vehicles from a cruise parking facility in Southampton.

“The incident occurred between the evening of September 9 and the early hours of September 10.

“Officers were called at approximately 7:40am on Wednesday September 10 to reports of a suspected break-in at Southampton Cruise Parking Services on First Avenue.

“Upon arrival, it was discovered that 17 cars had been stolen.

“The investigation team is working closely with the company operating the site, as well as local partners, to secure all available evidence.”

Detective Constable Edward Smith, the officer leading the investigation, said: “We don’t underestimate the significant impact this incident has had on the victims, who have returned from their holidays to discover their car stolen.

“We continue to keep those victims updated with the progress with our investigation, which our team is working incredibly hard on to ensure those responsible are arrested.

“We continue to progress several lines of inquiry including a full review of CCTV from the scene and surrounding areas.

“I am pleased to say that this work has already led to the recovery of six of the vehicles and those owners have been updated with the good news.”

Anyone with information, or who may have CCTV footage from the area, is urged to contact police quoting reference number 44250409694.

Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously via Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or visiting their website.

The Sun has contacted Southampton Cruise Parking Services for comment.

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Looking out from his office at St. Francis High School, interim athletic director Todd Wolfson can see the St. Francis football field, the La Cañada football field and the Rose Bowl.

“I can sit in my office and see all in one,” he said.

He might want to create a lottery to sell off his view on Friday night, because St. Francis is hosting Muir, La Cañada is hosting Crescenta Valley and UCLA is playing New Mexico at the Rose Bowl.

The high school fields are separated by 300 feet. The schools share a driveway, which will become an Uber drop-off spot on Friday night.

St. Francis is planning to use nearby Flintridge Prep and St. Bede middle school for parking. La Cañada is planning to use its softball and baseball fields for extra parking.

“It’s going to be Carmageddon,” Wolfson said.

All four high school teams are local, so that should produce great attendance and a party atmosphere.

Wolfson advises, “Come early and watch warmups.”

Kickoff is 7 p.m. for all three games.

Expect traffic reporters on the radio to be busy.

If Wolfson didn’t have supervision duties, he’d probably be kicking back in his office drinking Perrier and enjoying the scene.

DRIVERS of SUVs in England may soon face more stringent parking rules under a law inspired by the European Union.

Earlier this year, reports revealed that SUVs have become the most popular type of car in the UK – with sales data showing they accounted for a third of all new car registrations.

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Given their growing presence on UK roads, many believe stricter regulations are needed to address their impact on safety, air pollution and public space.

According to Birmingham Live, experts and campaigners are calling for measures similar to those introduced in European cities, such as Paris, where parking costs for SUVs have been significantly increased to discourage their use and reduce pollution.

An hour of parking for SUVs in the Paris city centre now costs €18 instead of the usual €6, whilst in the outskirts the cost is €12 instead of €4.

For six hours, SUVs will be charged a whopping €225 – around £195 – instead of the previous €75.

French newspaper Le Parisien reported that the new parking rates for larger vehicles in Paris had reduced the number of SUVs using surface parking by two-thirds.

The French cities of Lyon and Grenoble have similar rules, as does Tubingen in Germany.

Dr Anna Goodman, an academic transport researcher and director of Transport for Quality of Life, said: “SUVs increasingly dominate our streets. In just two decades, the share of SUVs in English cities has grown tenfold.

“In London alone, the number of SUVs has swelled by around 720,000. This has important implications for congestion, public space, and road safety.

“The evidence is clear that SUVs increase road danger for people walking and cycling, particularly for children.”

Oliver Lord, UK Head of Clean Cities, added: “The sheer scale of car-spreading is staggering.

“These oversized vehicles are not just swallowing our public space; they’re also far more dangerous, especially for children.

“If we want cities that are safe, breathable, and accessible, we have to get serious about tackling the rise of these urban land-hogs.”

SUVs are often criticised for their size, higher fronts and reduced visibility from the driver’s seat, making them more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists.

They are also blamed for contributing to air pollution and climate breakdown due to their heavier, more polluting nature.

The UK’s current best-selling cars, the Ford Puma, Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai are all classed as crossover SUVs.

But even bigger are the likes of the Range Rover, Skoda Kodiaq and BMW X5.

Barbara Stoll, senior director of T&E’s Clean Cities campaign, added: “A child is killed every day on our roads, yet cars are being made so large that children are invisible from the driver’s seat. How is that acceptable?”

“Thankfully, more and more city leaders are pushing back against car-spreading, standing up for what citizens actually want: safe, green streets without monster vehicles.”

THERE are loads of ways for Brits to use apps to slash bills this summer.

You can easily find the cheapest prices for food, petrol, flights and parking. If you use them regularly, you could easily save hundreds a year.

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CHEAPER PETROL

One great option for drivers is the PetrolPrices.

The name is the giveaway here. This app is designed to help you find the cheapest petrol prices in the area.

You can see the locations on a map, or find them as a list sorted by lowest price, distance, and even brands.

Site owners can upload their own prices, and users can report the fuel costs too.

It means you don’t have to drive around looking for the cheap prices – or face a price shock at the pump.

Another handy tip is using the Google Maps fuel efficiency feature.

Turn it on by going into Google Maps > Profile > Settings > Navigation > Route Options > Prefer Fuel-Efficient Routes.

“Google Maps can estimate fuel or energy efficiency for different vehicle types, including electric and combustion engine cars, as well as petrol motorcycles,” Google explained.

“The more fuel or energy efficient the route, the lower your vehicle’s fuel or energy usage.”

You should also tell Google your engine type in Google Maps > Profile > Settings > Your Vehicle.

That can give you even better fuel-efficiency.

“The most fuel or energy-efficient route can be different based on the engine type,” Google said.

“For example, diesel vehicles’ relative fuel economy advantage is generally greatest in motorway driving.

“Hybrid and electric vehicles tend to provide greater efficiency in stop-start town and hill driving where they can benefit from regenerative braking.”

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FOOD PRICES

For food savings, you’ll want to first take a look at Trolley.

It lets you compare prices for groceries across supermarkets, with a long list of stores including:

• Asda
• Sainsburys
• Aldi
• Home Bargains
• Morrisons
• Tesco
• Boots
• Wilko
• Coop
• Waitrose
• Superdrug
• B&M
• Ocado
• Iceland
• Savers
• Poundland

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The app says it’ll save you up to 30% on a weekly shop, but your own success will vary depending on what you buy and how much you spend.

Another option – recently tested by The Sun’s tech desk – is to use the Google Gemini chatbot.

You can use it to plan your food shop by asking the bot to find the cheapest prices.

It’s also worth noting that you can bag cheap or free food by picking up leftovers or stuff that would be otherwise thrown away.

Two apps – Olio and Too Good To Go – are packed with food bargains.

And if you want free food, Sky customers can bag a weekly treat from the Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference range through the MySky app.

Just go to the Sky VIP panel (which is free to join) to claim your freebie.

We’ve seen ice lollies and pizzas so far, but there’s a new option every week.

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FLIGHT COMPARISONS

There’s no denying that Skyscanner is a brilliant option for finding cheap flights.

But you should also take a look at Google Flights, which has some clever tricks.

For a start, when you’re searching for flights, it can show you the cheapest window to book.

“For example, these insights could tell you that the cheapest time to book similar trips is usually two months before departure, and you’re currently in that sweet spot,” Google said.

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“Or you might learn that prices have usually dropped closer to takeoff, so you decide to wait before booking. Either way, you can make that decision with a greater sense of confidence.”

You can also turn on price tracking for specific dates (like if you’re off to a wedding) or for any dates (if you just want a holiday at some point soon).

This feature will only appear if you’re signed in to your Google account.

And right now, Google Flights is getting an upgrade with the Flights Deal feature.

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It’s currently only in the US, Canada, and India – but it looks likely to land in the UK eventually too.

The feature works using AI with Google saying it’s “for flexible travellers whose number one goal is saving money“.

“Instead of playing with different dates, destinations and filters to uncover the best deals, you can just describe when, where and how you’d like to travel — as though you’re talking to a friend — and Flight Deals will take care of the rest,” Google said.

For example, you could search for a “week-long trip this winter to a city with great food, nonstop only”, Google revealed.

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Then it’ll use Google Fights data to show you the latest options from loads of airlines.

CHEAP PARKING

Lastly, make sure you’re not overpaying on parking.

There’s a great app called JustPark, which you might be familiar with as a way to pay at some car parks.

But it also lets people rent out their driveways, which means you can bag some great bargains.

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We tried it out earlier this year and found £6 for all-day parking in London on a weekday.

You can book them far in advance, and even add on insurance that covers the excess if your car ends up getting damaged.

You can easily check and amend (or cancel) your driveway parking through the app from anywhere. So you could add extra time if you’re running late.

And it’s potentially a great way to bag a bargain for sports fixtures by getting near-stadium parking.

You could also turn it into a side-hustle by renting out your own parking space.

So you wouldn’t just be saving money, but making some quick cash too.

THE MOST expensive seaside town in Britain has been “abandoned” by tourists with the implementation of an outrageous new parking fee.

It means visitors have to pay a daily parking price of £10.

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The coastal town of Salcombe in Devon has had a new parking charge of £10 introduced for day-trippers.

Locals also are required to pay £8 per day for parking, if they have the annual £5 permit.

This has triggered outrage, a notable drop in visitors according to residents.

One local business owner, Beck Gordon who owns a cafe and fishmonger’s, said: “In terms of day-trippers, if you talk about more local people, they definitely don’t come any more.”

Beck added: “It’s quieter generally.

“The parking’s definitely an issue.”

She pointed to the “absolutely ridiculous” fact that it is cheaper to get a weekly parking ticket that costs £25 or £50 than pay the car park fees, which would add up to £70.

Another cafe manager in the area revealed spending £120 of her earnings just on parking.

Salcombe was recently dubbed the most expensive seaside town in the UK, with average house prices of around £1.2 million in 2022.

Lloyds, however, revealed they did tumble by 22 per cent in the Devon hotspot to £970,657 in 2022.

It is known for its high concentration of second homes, which constitute 60 per cent of its housing stock, which are being hit by double council tax.

Despite having some of the UK’s best seafood, and being a small fishing village, it receives hardly any tourists anymore.

Councillor Julian Brazil, who is in charge of community services at the local council, stated: “We’d like to do everything to help the tourism trade and we have kept our car parking charges as competitive as possible.

“Residents of the South Hams can benefit from our discounted resident parking scheme.”

 “Many workers in Salcombe have benefited from our competitive parking permits, which offer significantly lower long-term parking compared to our pay-on-the-day rates.”

He added: “Be under no illusion, we don’t want to increase prices, but this is the best choice for us under the circumstances we find ourselves in.”

According to Brazil, the prices have been frozen for four years, and visitors are just being asked to contribute to public services.

Anti-tourist measures have been seen to be sweeping hotspots across the UK and Europe.

Officials have attempted to reduce the impact of holidaymakers by implementing additional taxes on tourists, or banning new hotels.

Earlier in the year, the Greater Manchester Mayor suggested that an existing optional fee in some Manchester city centre hotels should be replaced with a compulsory charge for visitors.

Parking at Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, is a distinctly different experience than parking at Dodger Stadium.

It’s about to be similar, however, when it comes to price.

City crews installed about 400 signs in downtown San Diego last week to let drivers know about new street parking-meter rates taking effect Sept. 1, calling it a special event zone. The hourly rate will increase from $2.50 to $10 starting two hours before games or concerts at the stadium, and will remain at that rate for six hours.

Getting to the stadium an hour before a three-hour game and perhaps enjoying a drink or meal at one of the establishments in the Gaslamp Quarter a short walk from the stadium can lift the cost of parking from $15 to $60.

And it could get worse. The variable parking rate policy change that the San Diego City Council approved in June allows the city to charge as much as $20 an hour, but officials are starting with $10.

The Padres were taken by surprise by the city’s action and objected to the increase, complaining that it was implemented without significant input from the team.

“We look forward to better understanding the city’s plan,” Padres spokesperson Vanessa Dominguez said.

Watching the kerfuffle must be amusing for Dodgers officials, who long have taken it on the chin for seemingly exorbitant parking fees and an enormous, barren parking lot that has all the charm of, well, an enormous, barren parking lot.

Parking at Chavez Ravine is not nearly as fun as at Petco Park, where the dozens of nearby restaurants, bars, shops and music venues make it akin to attending a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field.

General admission parking at Dodger Stadium is $35 if prepaid and $40 at the gate, but it’s a long hike to the seats. Preferred parking — translation: a shorter walk — is $60, the same as the six-hour meter charge will be at Petco.

Dodgers fans have their complaints about parking — primarily a postgame snarl to get out of the Stadium that makes navigating the 405 seem like a breeze — and drama too often colors the experience.

A tailgating ban is enforced so diligently that fans can’t even enjoy an El Ruso taco leaning over the trunk of their car without being scolded by a security officer. Safety is difficult to ensure as well: Fans have been beaten senseless walking to or from their cars.

And through no fault of the Dodgers, a procession of vehicles identified as federal agents attempted to enter the stadium on June 19, a day immigration raids capped two weeks of roundups by arresting “30 illegal aliens in Hollywood … and nine illegal aliens in San Fernando and Pacoima,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.

Federal officials said the gathering of vehicles was to conduct a briefing, and the Dodgers denied the vehicles entry into the stadium.

Parking near Petco Park is relatively safe, with well-lit lots and streets part of the fabric of a neighborhood packed with revelers. And Padres fans don’t require a metered street spot to park. The team runs several lots a few blocks from the stadium where parking can be reserved ahead of time. Rates range from $10 to $40.

The quadrupled special-event metered rate changes near Petco were included in a sweeping package of new parking rules throughout San Diego designed to increase revenue.

No more free parking on Sundays. Soon, no more free parking at the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park and Mission Bay Park. Free beach parking will be a perk of the past.

The city doubled meter rates to $2.50 an hour in most places. And meter hours around the city will be extended by at least two hours later this summer. The increase is expected to bring in about $4 million through the remainder of the fiscal year, and at least $9.6 million annually starting next fiscal year, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

“This city is a playground for folks,” San Diego Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera said at a recent meeting. “It is really important to me that San Diegans not be subsidizing the vacations of tourists who have the financial capability of coming here and enjoying this city.”

Most Padres fans are San Diego-area residents, although when the Dodgers visit the city to their south the crowd is noticeably peppered with folks wearing Dodgers gear. As the rivalry between the teams has grown in recent years, Petco has become a favorite destination for Dodgers fans.

Groups like Pantone 294 — the Dodgers official blue-tone color is listed as Pantone 294 — organize “takeovers,” with hundreds of Dodgers fans purchasing tickets in the same section of an opposing ballpark. For the short trip to San Diego, fans can join others on tour buses or drive their own cars.

When it comes to parking those cars, fees will have risen. Savvy fans who don’t mind taking the time can reduce the cost by parking near a San Diego trolley or MTS bus station: The fare remains $2.50.

A RETIRED judge has shared top tips on what to do if presented with a private parking ticket.

Thousands of motorists across Britain know the feeling of thinking they’ve been unfairly handed a parking fine.

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The unwelcome sight of a yellow sticker on your windscreen is always enough to ruin any motorist’s day.

But Stephen Gold, a retired judge, has revealed the three words that can help you beat a private parking ticket.

Speaking to the MailOnline, he said: “Getting a ticket after parking in a private car park does not mean you have committed any offence.

“It won’t lead to a criminal conviction, whether or not you pay it.

“You can challenge a ticket that has been wrongly issued, and the challenge could take you to the county court, where the park operator would have to sue you for non-payment to have any hope of getting you to pay up.”

THE THREE WORDS

The judge told the paper that a key defence against tickets is: “I knew nothing”.

This is a defence that counts on the you being able to prove that parking conditions were not properly indicated.

The operator would have to prove the conditions of parking were displayed on one or more notices that a reasonable motorist would have seen.

So if you only discovered the terms of parking upon returning – perhaps due to signs being inconspicuous or absent – the defence would hold.

It is always best to take photographs of the signs and their location within the car park if you want to use this defence.

The operator will likely try to rely on pictures of the signs within the car park – but these might not show exactly where they are.

APPEALS PROCESS

It comes as more and more car parks use number plate capturing cameras to send out tickets.

Sometimes this will result in a ticket being placed on your windscreen, but often these days a letter will be sent in the post.

If you wish to appeal a ticket, your first action should be to go to the car park operator.

An independent appeal would be the next step, and a final point would be going to a county court.

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Not so long ago, parking at the curb in Southern California was relatively simple: It was either free to park, or you had to feed change into a meter. Boy, times have changed! Now, any given meter might require quarters, a credit card, an app, your license plate number or any combination of the above.

As the experience of paying for parking in Southern California grows more complex and confusing, I want to hear your stories about paying for public parking — the good, the bad and the ugly.

Maybe you’ve come to love parking apps like Park Smarter or ParkMobile that alert you when a parking session is about to expire and allow you to add more time remotely. Or maybe it’s taken so long to download a needed app and type in your credit card information that you missed an appointment or were late to a meeting.

I’d also love to hear about any strategies you’ve devised to make the experience of parking more streamlined. Do you keep rolls of quarters in your car or a folder of parking apps on your phone? Have you given up entirely and started taking the bus?

Share your story in the form below, and I might follow up with you to include your tale in a coming story.

Be glad you’re not Jeff Bezos or Lauren Sánchez. Sure, being that rich would be awesome, but being rich comes with rich-people problems. With their Italian wedding imminent, they have a host of things to worry about that would never cross the imaginations of other, more average couples who don’t have 12 digits representing their net worth.

Most details of the Venice fête are being kept close to the vest. A couple of local companies have confirmed they are contributing handcrafted glassware and local pastries to the wedding-favor goodie bags. Some guests’ names leaked when the invites went out in March (we name-drop below, never fear).

But a few details that might be quite vexing to the bride and groom are playing out in public. Let’s take a look.

Your destination wedding’s destination might hate you

All of Venice may not truly be ticked off, but photos, activists and media coverage make it seem that way.

Venice teacher and activist Marta Sottoriva called the wedding “the symbol of all that is wrong with Venice.”

“There’s a lot of anger in the air because once again the council has enslaved itself to the logic of profit — our city has been sold to the highest bidder,” she told the Guardian. “Every time an event of this kind happens, the city comes to a standstill, certain areas become inaccessible and even more tourists arrive.” (Venice has been really annoyed lately by its number of tourists, kind of like the Louvre is really annoyed.)

“No Space for Bezos” activists speak at a public meeting of residents on June 13 in Venice, Italy.

(Andrea Merola / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But tourism councilor Simone Venturini was shocked that anyone might be upset that such a high-profile event was happening in the city.

“We should all be proud that the Bezos wedding, an event of international importance, is being held in the waters of our lagoon,” he told the Guardian. “Instead, the usual protest professionals have wasted no time. We want to reiterate that Venice is open to everyone.”

Venturini was more colorful in speaking to the Wall Street Journal, saying, “If Bezos’ wedding goes ahead as planned, without these pain-in-the-ass protests, Venetian citizens won’t even notice.”

The couple’s London-based wedding planners, Lanza & Baucina, told CNN in a statement, “Rumors of ‘taking over’ the city are entirely false and diametrically opposed to our goals and to reality.” They and the client, the planners said, wanted to minimize any disruption to the city.

That said, it’s impossible to get a reservation this week at the Aman Venice, the nearly 500-year-old hotel on the Grand Canal where the happy couple are rumored to be staying, at least for part of their wedding week, along with a host of wedding guests. The place is fully booked through Sunday, per TMZ, at a reported $2,000 to $10,000 a night per room.

Protests could really screw things up

Forget throwing soup on the “Mona Lisa” — the Bezos wedding protesters might do something truly offensive: They are threatening to screw up traffic on the big day.

“Bezos will never get to the Misericordia [event space],” activist Federica Toninello told an appreciative crowd last week, according to CNN. “We will block the canals, line the streets with our bodies, block the canals with inflatables, dinghies, boats.”

Having just learned what the Misericordia is, we have no idea what role the location might play in the nuptials, but it looks like a nice enough spot for a reception. Fondazione Giorgio Cini, a cultural center built in 1951, has also been floated as a wedding venue. But let’s get back to the blockades and such.

Another speaker at that same rally said she didn’t want Venice remembered as a beautiful wedding venue but “as the city that did not bend to oligarchs.”

“We can’t miss a chance to disrupt a $10-million wedding,” Na Haby Stella Faye said — because, really, how often does that chance come around? Although her goal stated at the rally was “to stop this wedding,” in her Instagram stories Monday, she was promoting a planned Saturday protest of Bezos, President Trump and, well, war.

A massive banner targeting Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest man, is laid out in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy, ahead of his wedding to Lauren Sánchez.

(Greenpeace / Associated Press)

Less aggressive protests include a host of banners and “No Space for Bezos” posters that have been hung around the city. A colossal message from Greenpeace to Bezos was laid out Monday in the Piazza San Marco. The square banner, which read “IF YOU CAN RENT VENICE FOR YOUR WEDDING YOU CAN PAY MORE TAX,” was quickly folded up and carried away by local cops, the Associated Press reported.

“It’s absurd to treat this city like it’s Disneyland,” said Grazia Satta, a retired teacher and social worker, per the Wall Street Journal. “The message this wedding sends is that rich people can do whatever they want. We shouldn’t kneel before wealth like this.”

By Monday, Bezos’ security team was making last-minute changes to try to outsmart the activists, according to TMZ. Even the water-taxi companies are being “kept in the dark,” the site said, and if the water taxis don’t know what’s going on, who really does?

Perhaps Bezos could tap that $212-billion bank account and enlist a Prime Delivery person to drop off himself and his bride discreetly at their reception? Though the human-size Amazon box could be a dead giveaway.

Whose yacht is biggest — and where will they park?

Yes, we know yachts don’t “park,” they drop anchor. But no matter what you call it, the biggest yachts can’t drop anchor in all parts of Venice.

One wedding theory has held that Bezos and Sánchez will exchange their vows on his 417-foot yacht, the Koru, where he proposed to her two years ago after five years of dating. But reported plans to dock the yacht in a lagoon might have changed. Apparently the close-to-shore concept is starting to look like a safety hazard due to those threatened protests of the second-richest man in the world.

The Koru is far from the only big boat floating around town, mind you. Venice has nine “yacht ports,” all of which have been booked for the wedding week. Apparently, TMZ reported, noncelebrity billionaire yacht owners are altering their Venice vacation plans to avoid the crush. That has to sting.

Fortunately, although the yacht situation is fluid and the airspace over Venice is closed, CNN reported that private helicopters are being given a pass, in case a head of state decides to chopper in. As one does.

One type of watercraft not involved in the festivities? Gondolas, or at least those piloted by people the WSJ talked to. “We are too slow,” one gondolier lamented.

International events might affect the guest list

President Trump reportedly scored an invitation to the wedding. Unclear if a plus-one for Melania was included. However, the commander in chief is a wee bit busy handling world events these days — hard to tell if he will be able to get away, even for a gala event like this one. Aren’t destination weddings the worst? So inconvenient.

That said, Ivanka Trump and hubby Jared Kushner reportedly got invited too, along with Jared’s brother Joshua Kushner and model wife Karlie Kloss. So the first family might be represented after all. And who knows, POTUS could swing by. Does Marine One count as a “private” helicopter?

Others on the guest list, per TMZ, include Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Bill Gates, singer Jewel, Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Corey Gamble, Barbra Streisand, Eva Longoria, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Brian Grazer, Barry Diller, Diane von Furstenberg, models Brooks Nader and Camila Morrone, and Queen Rania of Jordan. Perry won’t attend, though, because she’s on tour.

My favorite books fall into one of two categories: novels that immerse me in another world, or nonfiction works that transform how I see our world.

When I read the latter, I share what I learned from the book with my partner for months afterward. She jokes that these books become my personality, but it’s not really a joke. In grad school, a professor asked us to each share a fun fact about ourselves, and I shared that my favorite book is about parking minimums. (I was studying business, not urban planning, so no one else seemed to find this very “fun.”)

When given the chance to write this newsletter, I knew I had to convince subscribers to check out “Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World” by Henry Grabar. True to the title, it will change how you see the world — it did for me, at least.

Today, I talk to Grabar about why he became fascinated with parking policy, whether L.A. can pull off a car-free Summer Olympics in 2028 and how the current White House administration is affecting the future of American transportation. I also share some of my other favorite books about transportation and urban planning before checking out the latest news in the book world.

✍️ Author Chat

This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

You cover various urban issues for Slate. Was there a book that inspired your interest in these topics?

The first thing I read about city planning that made me feel like this was a real subject of inquiry and study was Jane Jacobs’ famous book, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities.” She even has a passage about parking lots as “border vacuums” and the way that they kind of suck the life out of the surrounding streets. I read that when I was probably 17.

My direct inspiration for “Paved Paradise” came more out of my reporting for Slate. It just seemed that beneath every single subject, there was a story about parking. Then I learned that many people in the field had already devoted their careers to studying parking. But that just meant there was a lot of interesting material there and a big gap between what professionals understood about the importance of parking and what the general public saw as its role.

‘Paved Paradise,’ by Henry Grabar

(Penguin Press)

You mentioned Jane Jacobs’ book. What are some of your lesser-known favorite books about transportation and urban planning?

“Family Properties” by Beryl Satter is a great book about race and housing in Chicago.

“Saving America’s Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age” by Lizabeth Cullen is a biography, but it’s also an urban renewal history that offers an interesting and nuanced perspective on the aims of the urban renewers.

“The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York” by Suleiman Osman holds many interesting lessons for our cities today.

As a famously sprawling city, L.A. features prominently in Paved Paradise. Since the book came out, city leaders have promoted the idea of a car-free Olympics. Do you think that’s feasible?

That would be great. I hope they stick to that aim. It’s going to be challenging, of course, but at the same time, if there’s one thing we know about mega-events, it’s just very, very difficult on a spatial level to get everybody where they’re going if everyone arrives in a single-family vehicle.

I was at the Olympics in Paris last year, where I met [L.A. Mayor] Karen Bass very briefly. She seemed inspired by what was happening there. But it’s hard to make a point-by-point comparison between Paris and Los Angeles because they’re such different cities. At the same time, I do think planners in L.A. grasp this will be a much more fun event if it can summon some of that public-spiritedness that was on display in Paris, where the venues and the fans zones were all connected, rather than these isolated sites that are only accessed by car.

Henry Grabar’s ‘Paved Paradise’ diagnoses the blight of parking.

(Lisa Larson-Walker)

Since you published your book, Donald Trump has returned to the White House. To what degree does the federal government affect how much, at a city level, we are able to chip away at our parking-dependent infrastructure?

The federal government is a huge player in the way our cities and streets look. There are a lot of city and county transportation departments wondering what will happen with these projects where money was allocated by Washington or they were expecting it to be allocated later.

If there’s any silver lining to it, to accomplish their transportation goals, cities are going to have to do more with less and rethink some of the policy decisions they’ve taken for granted that are in their control, like parking policy.

Is there another topic in this realm that you hope to turn into a book someday?

I’m working on another book that follows the construction of a series of multifamily buildings from start to finish. By embedding with these projects as they make their way through the acquisition of the land, the design of the building, the zoning, the permitting, the financing and finally the construction, I’ll be able to identify and illuminate some of the barriers to having enough housing that go beyond whether it is permitted by zoning, which I know is a hot topic in California.

I’m trying to look across the country because this is increasingly a national problem, and there are variations from place to place in the issues that come into play.

📚 Book Recs

Now for some other books that have, to varying degrees, become my personality…

“Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet” explains how highways affect wildlife in ways both obvious (roadkill) and obscure (traffic noise pushing birds away from their habitats). Author Ben Goldfarb also highlights the creative solutions road ecologists are coming up with to help animals navigate our car-centric world.

If you’ve had an address your whole life, you’ve probably never thought much about it. “The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power” changed that for me. Author Deirdre Mask digs into the consequences of not having an address, the dark reasoning behind why we began numbering homes and so much more.

In “Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong About the Future of Transportation,” author Paris Marx pokes holes in many of the silver-bullet transportation solutions we have today, from autonomous vehicles to electric scooters, arguing these efforts often overlook the most vulnerable in our society and sometimes create more problems than they solve.

(Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.)

📰 The Week(s) in Books

President Biden at a campaign rally in Raleigh, N.C..

(Matt Kelley / Associated Press)

Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s buzzy book about Joe Biden’s diminished capacities and the associated cover-up is “reads like a Shakespearean drama on steroids,” Leigh Haber writes in her review of “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.” Times television and media business reporter Stephen Battaglio spoke with Tapper about the book. “I have never experienced the ability to get behind the scenes in so many different rooms as for these recountings as I was for this book,” the CNN anchor said. “I felt like people needed to get this off their chest. It was almost like they were unburdening themselves.”

Media mogul Barry Diller’s memoir, “Who Knew,” hit shelves this week. Here are the four biggest revelations.

In his new book, “Is a River Alive?,” Robert Macfarlane questions the way we treat nature by visiting three threatened rivers in different parts of the world.

With his 40th novel, “Nightshade,” out this week, author and former Los Angeles Times reporter Michael Connelly shared what keeps him writing at 68 years old.

In his new book, “Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine: The New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight,” David A. Kessler argues Big Food has purposefully engineered ultraprocessed foods to be addictive. The Times spoke with Kessler, a former FDA commissioner, about healthy long-term weight-loss strategies, guidelines for using GLP-1s safely, the body-positivity movement and improving lifespan.

If you haven’t gotten enough book recs by this point in the newsletter, The Times has also compiled 30 must-read books for summer.