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The price of a parking ticket citations increased a couple years ago. Then Mayor Antonio Villariagosa proposed raising fines by $3 in his most recent budget proposal. And today, Councilmember Tony Cardenas requested the Mayor's proposal be upped to $5. That suggestion happened during today's marathon-length budget meeting of the L.A. City Council. Controversy stirred when cuts to a recently-built Northeast Animal Care Center and gang violence programs were discussed. To sway those issues, Cardenas offered raising the parking fines to save those programs -- the extra $2 means over $2.7 million in revenue for the city.
Most councilmembers seem to agree with the move, but Tom LaBonge had a problem. "We should be fair," he said, noting that residents in higher density areas where it's harder to park would get burned. Adding in his own pet peeve, he raised his voice and said "we stick people with a $60 ticket for street cleaning," yet throwing a cigarette butt on the street is never enforced. "It's a fairness issue here."
Department of Transportation Manager Amir Sedadi said Los Angeles parking fines are already near the most expensive in the region. If this were to go through, the city would have the highest around. He also said that the majority of tickets written in residential areas are for street sweeping.
