Friday, February 22, 2013
EXPOSING L.A. PARKING CORRUPTION, recovered website (in part)
ALSO SEE SAME AT
THESE ARE the ONLY POSTS I COULD RECOVER from MY “EXPOSING L.A. PARKING CORRUPTION” WEBSITE AT POSTEROUS (which is now owned by Twitter, and who suddenly, around November of 2012, without warning, deleted all of my various websites on posterous, except for one…
They did so without warning, without cause, and without explanation. Shame on posterous/twitter (read more about my salvaged posterous sites at bottom). Nonetheless, I will persevere and fight on…and am re-building my many websites, most of which are evangelical Christian in nature (ie protecting unborn life, defending traditional marriage, telling the Good News, etc).
By the way, just recently (Feb, 2012) I’ve noticed some new articles about L.A. parking corruption, so I am NOT the only one dismayed by the way things are in los angeles. Here’s a link to one of the articles:
Also see
PASADENA ON HOLD 10+,
PASADENA PARKING IS CORRUPT TOO
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7/23/12 ON HOLD for 7+ MINUTES, CITY OF PASADENA
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THIS IS THE PARKING TICKET HE GAVE ME AS I WAS SITTING IN MY CAR
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4/21/10 TO SUPERVISOR: RE PARKING ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS "LYING IN WAIT" like STALKERS :
I will begin with YOU, the L.A. Dept. of Transportation in regard to a parking citation issued this morning at 8:09 a.m. at 645 Kingsley Dr.(s) by Officer Mendoza (serial #2381, beat 461,agency 54) for a violation of MC 80.69BS (I like that BS on the end, because that's what this parking citation amounts to) right next to St. Basil Church on Wilshire.
I am not contesting a violation, I am contesting a "lying in wait" m.o. (modus operandi) by the parking citation officer a.e.b. (as evidenced by) the fact that the citation was issued at 8:09 am, almost immediately the moment the enforceable time begins (i.e. 8 am).
And given the church has a daily mass worship service at 8 a.m., undoubtedly the parking officer is WELL AWARE that a person or persons not completely aware of the street cleaning on Wednesday will park next to the church at exactly 8 a.m. & she "lies in wait" for them (us, me) to do so as an "easy target" inside the church worshiping Jesus.
It is unconscionable for a parking officer to "lie in wait" to issue a $60 violation, knowing the mass time, & knowing the Wednesday street cleaning. Sure, I should have noticed the small sign, but also they should be driving around, in general, doing their job, not "lying in wait" like a stalker (at a church of all places) knowing there's an 8 a.m. daily service.
John P.
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12/7/11 $58 DOLLAR L.A. PARKING TICKET MEANS NO CHRISTMAS TREE 4 ME THIS YEAR...thanks to a filipino immigrant, a los angeles parking meter enforcer, who gave me a $58 parking citation while I was sitting in the flippin' car, I will not be buying a Christmas tree this year. When I attempted to explain to him the situation, he didn't give a damn. In fact, I think he was happy to be "socking" it to flippin' American white boy, certainly born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Can't I appeal it ? Sure, they will pretend to consider your explanation, & then say APPEAL DENIED. Been there, done that. Folks, Los Angeles courts & government are AS CORRUPT AS ANYWHERE. They are looking for a CASH COW as much as anybody, whether it is handing out $50 to $100 parking tickets or $180 seatbelt citations, they are DESPERATE 4 our cash. My $58 citations means a nice steak dinner for 4 for one of the government families, or a beautiful Christmas tree for one of THEM, certainly not me. L.A. government is killing us. Even when I got wrongly charged at a credit card parking meter a few weeks ago (it charged me $4 when I was only parking for 30 minutes, & was trying to push the buttons to lessen the time, when suddenly it just charged my card the max) and called the hotline & gave my information (three times now) I never received the promised "call back" or email. They are just saying empty words & promises, while sucking our money from us & they believe it is justified because they are "poor government workers".
NO, they are CORRUPT GOVERNMENT workers who have never gotten to the point of self-discipline & true integrity. They are PARASITES sucking us dry. And it HURTS all the more knowing this parking meter enforcer speaks ENGLISH as a second language & when I call any L.A. Government phone # it is inevitably answered by somebody who speaks English as a second language & will intentionally make me feel as if its hopeless & useless trying to get any help or answers from our L.A. government. L.A. has become parasite capitol of the world & they HATE those of us born here. They just want our money. And the government workers above them who were born here are IMPOSSIBLE to reach.
This city is a disaster & our country is not far behind. We've become parasite-ville. The ship is NOT about to go down, its ALREADY going down. The IRONY is that I have ALL MY LIFE welcomed people from everywhere & have also been treated with much hospitality in other countries I've visited most of the time. The difference is I've never gone to another country expecting a handout, nor to another country with anger or hate towards their citizens. Yet we have people who come here bristling with anger towards those of us who live here. Most of the time they HIDE it well, but every now & then it is revealed in legalistic actions such as this Filipino fellow giving me a $58 parking citation WHILE I AM SITTING IN the CAR ! I can assure you, if it was a filipino in the car, rather than a white boy, any explanation would have been accepted. This kind of action exacerbates race relations. It really HURTS everybody because it causes JUSTIFIED ANGER...its been over 24 hours & I am still stewing with anger. I woke up this morning spewing profanity at this guy (Lord forgive me, I know not what I do). For those of u who DEEP DOWN INSIDE HATE Americans, please don't come here & take out your anger on "us" (that is, the "whites" who u assume represent L.A. America, when in fact we r a minority in Los Angeles). Don't take out your anger & resentment on "us" because we r NOT the cause of your problem. And NOT all of us r RICH! NOT all of us use dollar bills for tissues.
PERSPECTIVE
“Politicians like to duck the whole issue, but the difficulty of appealing pricey citations should be addressed now, while the contract of the private firm running the show is up for renewal.
o
Parking tickets are a big deal in Los Angeles. For years, the city has been jacking up fines, which slams many low-income renters and young people who live in tightly packed neighborhoods where they have to fight over street parking. Most politicians don't want to talk about it because parking fines are a big part of the city's revenue. Those tickets bring in $150 million a year. When the city runs into money problems — as it always does — it's the easiest thing in the world to raise fines instead of running afoul of unions, developers and political donors.
For the sixth time in seven years, the City Council voted last year to jack up parking fines by $5. The latest hike boosted the penalty for a street sweeping citation to $73.That's a heavy price to pay, and it's $30 more than what violators pay for the same offense in neighboring cities, such as Torrance and El Segundo. In neighborhoods like Koreatown and Pico Union, which were built before garages and carports were needed, there is nowhere to park for blocks and blocks when the yellow dirt-sucking trucks lumber by.
In this campaign season, it seemed important to get mayoral candidates on the record about parking tickets, specifically about one issue that is even more irritating than getting a ticket: appealing one.Out there in the city, there are thousands of people for whom appealing a ticket is akin to trying to get out of Siberia. Lucky for us, this is something the city can actually do something about. The contract is up for the private company, Xerox State and Local Solutions, now running the Parking Violations Bureau. Department of Transportation staff has recommended a five-year extension for Xerox, which had been operating on five-year contract that cost the city $86 million.
When I asked the mayoral candidates at a forum last week about Xerox's work, their responses were somewhat mushy.City Councilman Eric Garcetti "will review the DOT contract recommendation when it comes to council," a spokesman said in an email. After which, Garcetti will "clearly take a position by voting yes or no."
City Controller Wendy Greuel, City Councilwoman Jan Perry and Emanuel Pleitez, a former tech exec, took similarly strong positions, saying they will closely review the contract when it comes to them.Only Kevin James, a former prosecutor, promised to oppose the contract extension, saying, "I would vote against it."
Here's the issue with Xerox in a nutshell: Since Xerox took over, a group of people in the city says the company has been trying to keep more parking revenue by stonewalling attempts to fight tickets.
Jeff Galfer, an actor who lives in Atwater Village, filed a class-action lawsuit in January, claiming Xerox doesn't really consider their cases but just sends form letters stating that their appeals have been rejected. Then, when motorists try to appeal to the Department of Transportation, Xerox slaps them with late payment fees and penalties.Galfer's case started with a $68 parking ticket in 2011. He paid, but he's mad.
The city's data on tickets seem to back up Galfer's claim that Xerox is rejecting too many appeals. Last year, the city dismissed thousands of tickets after Xerox had rejected the drivers' appeal — vindicating the small percentage of intrepid souls who managed to bring their case to City Hall.
City transportation spokesman Jonathan Hui said the dismissals are evidence that the city gives citizens a fair chance to beat their tickets.Xerox would not comment on the litigation, but spokesman Chris Gilligan said that the company has been "successfully providing parking services to drivers and communities for 30 years, including our work in L.A."
Galfer, who started an online petition with hundreds of signatures against the parking bureau, finds both the city's and Xerox's statements hilarious. "I haven't talked to one person who got out of a ticket, ever," he said.City staff has backed renewing Xerox's contract, saying in a report that the company provides "excellent services," although it has had "occasional challenges they had to work through."
The report did not specify what "occasional challenges" it was referring to, but perhaps the staff meant that flap concerning the "Gold Card Desk" a while back. That was the program that let City Hall insiders and their friends get expedited review of their tickets.James, who shows no campaign contributions from Xerox on the city website, says the gold card matter was reason alone to drop Xerox.
"As far as I'm concerned [their] willingness to let that happen should end their contract," he said.
Greuel has received $4,750 in political donations from Xerox, its employees or its predecessor company since 2002, according to a Times analysis. Perry took in $2,000 since 2003; Garcetti and Pleitez have nothing from Xerox listed on the site.
Greuel said she has been tough on the company. As city controller, she issued three harsh audits that uncovered, among other problems, $440,000 the city paid for processing tickets that were voided. "I was critical" of the company, she said, adding that political contributions don't "have an influence on me."
Her focus was on the company's failure to squeeze money out of scofflaws, not on how hard it is to appeal a ticket.Later, Greuel called back and said she had directed her staff to start an audit of the bureau's appeal process. Greuel said she was not comfortable going forward with the contract "without looking at all the concerns."The problems with the process are just part of a bigger picture in which no one in power seems to want to talk about how expensive our tickets have gotten.
Times are tough. But really, enough is enough.
