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When you pull into a hard-sought parking space in the City of Los Angeles, and then discover the meter is busted, do you get back in your car and move on? You'd better, because it's been the law for two years that you can be ticketed for parking at a broken meter, and today the Los Angeles City Council voted to uphold that policy.
Keeping the broken meter policy means that Los Angeles is taking advantage of "an option for cities to override a new state law that greatly limits the practice of issuing tickets to drivers who park where meters are malfunctioning," according to L.A. Now. That California law permits motorists to park at broken meters for the max time permitted for that particular space, and is set to go into effect January 1, 2013.
Today's vote was nearly unanimous at 12-1 in favor of keeping the law; Jan Perry cast the sole "no" vote.
One dominant fear shared by city transportation officials was that should L.A. follow the state law, motorists might be more inclined to commit parking meter vandalism.
The newer meters that come with a credit card pay option and colored flashing lights to indicate if time remains seem to be working well for L.A. The meters, which run on a solar battery, also "automatically alert transportation officials of operational problems," which means they are fixed sooner, should they malfunction, meaning you're less likely to encounter a busted meter. These newer meters are supposed to be in working condition 99% of the time.
