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June 18, 2008
Parking Fines to Increase $5
To help balance Los Angeles' massive budget for the next Fiscal Year, parking fines are to be increased $5 across the board. The move begins July and will raise an additional $6.6 million towards filling the $406 million gap in the budget, according to the Daily News. Originally, City Council looked into increasing the fines $10 to $15, raising up to $20 million extra, but had worries it would lead to voter anger and violence against parking enforcement officers.
And as backwards as it seems, the best idea coming out of this is to raise the fine one more dollar to $6 for a stolen vehicle fund. Councilman Tom LaBonge, who always is rooting for the little guy (except when it comes to bikes and holidays), says having a car stolen is hard enough.
"Imagine the trauma if you go out and find your car stolen," he told the paper. "And then, five days later, the police call and say it's been recovered. Then you're facing the $184 impound fee and whatever it costs for each day there. It doesn't seem fair. We shouldn't charge people after they've been through the trauma of having their car stolen."
Photo by discarted via Flickr
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I'd like to know why there is no official mechanisim in place for contesting a parking ticket.
About a year ago I tried to contest a ticket I got on the company truck. I took photographs of the posted signs, the yellow painted stretch of curb which I used as a loading zone, wrote a letter detailing why I thought the citation was wrongly issued.
Never heard a word back. I thought there was this thing called "due process". Apparently it's just "shut up and send the damned money or we'll up the fine and impound your vehicle".
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I am 2-4 in contested citations (3 at the same curb)
You basically have to badger the heck out of the city until they review your case. Once they do, you usually will come out on top, provided you are right in the first place.
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I'm 0-2 for parking tickets in Los Angeles
1. Sign telling me it was a permit district had graffiti all over it. I fought it, they said it was my job to look at every sign on the block.
2. Parking Enforcement Officer and DOT operator said I could park there. Another officer rolled by, gave a ticket. I fought it telling the situation and giving the DOT employees ID number for follow up, they said it was not valid.
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Zach, please fix the first sentence.
Also, am I understanding correctly that LaBonge wants an extra dollar tacked on that would go to a fund so that stolen vehicles' owners will not pay impound fees? I read that to say that the impound lots will STILL get their insane fees paid, just by other asses, like us! Sounds like passing the buck from Tom to Jane. Have you read the stories in the LATimes about how they lobby for those official impound contracts, which are just cash printing presses? F those lots.
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eff the who traffic violations bureau in the city of Los Angeles. Contesting a ticket? Laughable.
Want to hear the best one:
I went to the traffic bureau office in West L.A. to pay a ticket. I could hear the guy at the window in front of me contesting a ticket he'd received on Edinburgh Ave. I went up to the window, and paid my ticket. Couple weeks later, I get a citation in the mail telling me I'm delinquent on payment of a parking violation on Edinburgh Ave. All my car plate / desc. info is correct on the ticket, except I had never been on Edinburgh Ave. And, on the day in question noted on the ticket, I knew exactly where I had been - moving out of my apartment to a new one (neither on Edinburgh).
I thought of contesting the fine, but then just ultimately paid it to spare myself the hassle. Didn't know how I was going to prove to those fcuk ups [sic] at the Park Bureau that one of their brilliant window agents had transferred someone elses ticket to my record on the computer. God only knew what other false violations they'd inadvertantly add if I started asking them to look into it. Morons. Theiving morons. Parking violations in this town is an utter scam perpetrated by the city.
I feel as though I alone have put a major downpayment on the Puple Line in parking fines. How are we operating at a deficit with the dough they rake in giving parking tickets?
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As to where the citation money goes?
I would guess it's re-invested in more red paint and even more "No Parking from yadita to yadita" signs per block.
The tow truck companies? That's a whole 'nother level of larceny!
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City governmets, tow truck companies, yes and please ad State Beach Managers/State Park managers.
Seems to be a great source of revenue for them
What do we (people) do to stop this?
Pay or Fight Parking Ticket Blogspot.
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I feel all your pain, but my sentiment isn't with you. It really isn't hard to read a sign to know where and when to park. And to not park in loading zones, illegal spots, during traffic hours, on the curb, during street cleaning hours, in red zones. The roads aren't your personal parking lot, you are getting the privilege of parking on them - as opposed to having to pay for a private parking spot. The least you could do is read a simple sign that says where and when you can park.