LAist: When You Fight a Parking Ticket, You Are Fighting Lockheed Martin

jrb

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:42:50 -0800

It seems dropping dead in your car is no excuse for parking illegally. Man found dead in car after it was cited... http://articles.latimes.com/2008/07/24/metro/me-ticket24 I wish them luck collecting on this citation though.

nomad

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 12:32:13 -0800

IT IS LEGAL TO PARK At a failed meter for the alloted time. I park at meters daily and always the failded ones when available... but sometimes meters will "fix" themselves causing a zero time reading. but if they are fixed by an actual person while you are parked at it they should put the maximum time on the meter. But the system is shit... and I supposedly owe $256 for thier mistakes: it went something like this: (its hard to make short but i'll do my best) 1. i get expired meter ticket. 2. i pay ticket. $35 3. they say ticket was never paid. 4. i provided proof (copy of check) that ticket was paid. 5. they say they will fix it. 6. i get collection notice for ticket, now @ $84. 7. i provide proof that i paid ticket. 8. they say it will be fixed 9. i go to renew registration 4 month later, low and behold parking ticket is on record still. 10. i don't get registration and in the next two weeks i get 6 expired registration tickets (I have to park at meters, i figured i could fight them) all while trying to get them to take the ticket off of my record as i was told. 11. they finally remove ticket. 12. i go to get registration..but I can't because the franchise tax board in sac town has a hold on the registration because of the ticket now. they need proof form LA that ticket was paid. 13. a bunch of other calls.. all holds get cleard. 14. get registration with max late fees (instead of @$60 I paid about $150). 15. send in copy of registration with $10 for each expired reg ($60). (can pay $10 for $25 ticket if provide proof of reg within 30 days) 16. they say i didn't send the copy of registration and that I still owe the extra $15 per ticket. 17. while I am trying to fight this each ticket goes up to $56. 18. collections 19. bullshit 20. lies 21. incompetence well all in all i have spent hours and hours dealing with this (it has gone on for over a year now) all from their mistake of not crediting my ticket and not removing when they were supposed to. i still owe $256 after paying over $200 already.. and all this for what should have been a $60 registration fee.

Dave

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:38:43 -0800

I got a ticket outside the Downtown L.A. Library on 5th Street for stopping at a curbside Library Drop Box to return books. There were no signs before or at the drop box, but 50 feet down the road there was a sign that said no stopping during certain hours. I fought the ticket through two hearings and lost -- the official explanation, which is patently absurd, is that drivers are bound by any sign that they could have seen if they had driven around the entire block before stopping. I went to the head of the Library, who went to a City Councilman, who had the city change the signs to allow library patrons to stop at the drop box without falling into a trap. I still had to pay the $61 ticket!

LA City Nerd

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:45:53 -0800

First, it is NOT legal to park at a failed meter - you risk it every time you do. Second, Lockheed doesn't actually decide if the ticket is valid or not - there is a process with actual city employees who are "hearing officers" that listen to your side of the ticket. A better statement would be to say that Lockheed "processes" your parking ticket. You really never have to pay or fight them. More parking info here and on meters here.

manmademound

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 09:24:23 -0800

Yeah #10, that's happened to me a few times. What's the worst part is that it's usually your last quarter so now your out of change to park somewhere else! I think this happens when the meter fills up right? Maybe they should make bigger coin hoppers.

oso

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 18:25:20 -0800

Have you ever dropped a quarter into a perfectly functioning meter, and then suddenly the meter flashes "FAIL". WTF? Next time this happens, I'm ticketing the city.

K.

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:28:50 -0800

Last time I asked the ticket guy, he confirmed, that You can PARK in a failed meter for the time that is allowed to park in there. Meaning that, if it's a 30 min zone, you can park for free at the failed meter, but you need to move your car after 30 mins. It worked for me, usually on mondays, a lot of meters are out of order.

Jose Habib

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:10:38 -0800

If it was legal to park at a failed meter, I'd just carry around a sledgehammer in my car instead of change.

Johnny

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:45:05 -0800

Class action suit?

Media Concepts

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:29:20 -0800

I recently moved here from DC. There, Lockheed had the franchise on hundreds of red light cameras. Lockheed is paid a percentage of each ticket issued. It turns out that, once the cameras were installed, the yellow light time period ("phase") was shortened, which resulted in many more drivers (who may not have been doing anything wrong) being caught for running the red lights. This also caused a very dangerous situation, since the previous yellow light phase was designed for safety reasons. So Lockheed profits were given priority over safety. Surprise surprise.

Jenn

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:13:33 -0800

I have a suspicion I know why there are so many failed meters in Los Angeles as I work downtown and I used to park in those meters. Here's my story: As I was parking on a meter and getting my things gathered to go out and fill the meter, a homeless man beat me to it. As I got out of my car, I noticed he was tapping the meter. He had a method of "filling" up the meter by pushing something in the coin slot with a bent paper clip. Whatever he did, he filled it to maximum hour capacity and proceeded to ask me for the change I would've placed in the meter. If these meters are so easy to be tampered with, it's not a surprise there are so many failed ones in L.A. Why are they so easy to tamper? Because like most things in the City of L.A. -- the deciding managers choose the supplier based on whichever company provides the "lowest bid" in contract negotiations. Low bid = Low quality = Happy corporation with a million-dollar contract with the City of L.A.

Nancy

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:41:33 -0800

It is NOT legal to park at a broken meter. It's a common misconception that when the meter's busted that you get a free ride, and the City of LA/Lockheed Martin have no reason to clarify since they are making so much money off of it!

tony

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:41:17 -0800

Greg if you read the last paragraph you will see that Zach did even more due diligence than you did to get the info. If you wanna risk it, go for it, but you cant say that you havent been warned - by someone who doesnt have a dog in the fight.

Greg

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 12:10:15 -0800

It's not legal to park at a failed meter? I asked a meter maid and he said it was... Where are you getting your info, Behrens?!

brian

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:31:33 -0800

Is it not legal to park at a failed meter? Why does the city of LA have so many failed meters. I work downtown and would guess at least 1/3 of the meters I park at are failed. I never get a failed meter in Santa Monica or Redondo Beach, two other cities with meters I park in regularly.