VOICES - Los Angeles may be facing a $238-million budget shortfall, but it’s no excuse for Mayor Antonio “Ticket ‘em” Villaraigosa to suggest a sixth hike in parking ticket fines in seven years.
His City Budget calls for the street-sweeping penalty to reach $78 bucks. This perpetual solution will increase street sweeping tickets by 73% since 2005.
Additionally, parking in a red zone would go up to $98, parking in a fire lane would hit $68, and parking too close to a hydrant would go to $73. These fines have increased between 82% and 94% since “Ticket ‘em” took office.
Compared to neighboring cities, street sweeping tickets will cost nearly twice the amount charged by Torrance/El Segundo or Pasadena, who charge between $43 -and $46.50. Our City collected $134 million in parking fines in 2011. One-third of it came from cars illegally parked during street-cleaning hours. Our Mayor expects to pull in $150 million this year.
Now I am not a betting gal, but I would say that the City Council’s pattern of consistent approval of proposed rate hikes makes this a sure thing. This one note Mayor has grabbed every Los Angelino by their ankles and shaken the last dollar out of their pockets while the City Council scrambles to pick it all up.
His argument for “preserving vital city services” has left me wondering … which city is “Ticket ‘em” living in? You can’t preserve what you no longer have or never had, because we have sorely lacked vital services, vital infrastructure maintenance, and vital leadership for sometime.
Certainly the “Haves” get the services and the “Have-nots” get increased police patrol. There has been a disparity for as long as I can remember. A ticket for the “have-nots” determines whether there is a meal on the table that week. Many tickets get ignored under those circumstances.
In 2011, City Controller Wendy Greuel reported that 100,000 people in our city are responsible for 800,000 outstanding tickets. That’s a lot of people choosing food over fines.
Vehicles can be immediately towed and impounded when parking enforcement scan license plates to see if you're a repeat offender. The traffic officers can place an immobilizing boot device on vehicles that have five or more unpaid parking citations. Ignoring the ticket can increase the cost substantially and become more than a little inconvenient.
Some believe ticketing is a punitive reconditioning of society. It’s a penalty brought on by our own poor judgment. As long as we are creating denser communities with reduced parking, we are inflicting hardships on communities that the City orchestrated and foresaw. Instead of changing their direction in planning, they ramp up the fines.
There are cities like South Pasadena, Malibu and Rancho Palos Verdes that do not have street cleaning tickets. I will attribute that to better planning, better money management, and better leadership.
My guess is as good as yours.
(Lisa Cerda is an occasional contributor to CityWatch, a community activist, Chair of Tarzana Residents Against Poorly Planned Development, and former Tarzana Neighborhood Council board member.) –cw
Tags: parking tickets, Los Angeles, Mayor Villaraigosa, parking fines, street cleaning tickets
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 39
Pub: May 15, 2012