Los Angeles Parking Violations Bureau Thousands of dollars in Parking fines that weren't my fault, that weren't contestable 5 boots in a year rip off to citizens of Los Angeles Los Angeles California

I can do Marilyn one better. My wife and I thought this AP article from a couple months ago was so funny that she kept it.

"LOS ANGELES - Municipal employees owe more than $7,000 for 36 delinquent parking tickets placed on city vehicles, officials said.

Mayor James K. Hahn issued a directive to all 40,000 employees teling them to pay tickets quickly.

Department of Transportation officials said a check of parking ticket lists on Friday identified 36 delinquent tickets written on city vehicles. The $7,000 included the cost of late penalties, officials said.

Wayne Tanda, general manager of the city's transportation department said a recent check found that three transportation employees had delinquent tickets.

The problem, he said, is that some notices are sent to the city General Services Department, rather than the employees, so it took time to get them to the right people.

In addition, some tickets are issued to pool cars, making it difficult to track down the responsible employee."

Do they impound city vehicles if the employee doesn't pay the parking tickets?

The following is a reprint from the June 2003 Los Angeles Dept. of Transportation Newsletter.

(Note the absence of any measures taken to assure that the drastic measure of seizing one's private vehicle by booting or towing is legitimate. Suzette Camacho retired in Aug. 2004.)

"Habitual Parking Violators Unit
By Suzette Camacho

"In September 1982 the Habitual parking Violators (HPV) Unit was established to immobilize and/or impound vehicles which had accumulated five or more unpaid parking citations. Such vehicles are commonly known as "scofflaws." The HPV Unit is headed by Raymond Lampkin and supervised by Suzette Camacho, Devon Farfan, Gretta Charvis, and Sylvia Vasquez. The unit is assigned 28 Traffic Officers who are specifically trained to locate, immobilize, and impound "scofflaw" vehicles.
The unit deploys ll two-person booting teams whose main function is to seek, locate, and immobilize "scofflaw" vehicles. Seven other officers are assigned to "release units," which entails releasing the booted vehicles to owners who pay the outstanding fines.

The HPV Unit utilizes "booting vans" equipped with powerful data and communications tools such as the Geographic Information System (GIS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Mobile Data Terminals (MDT). The GIS assists with dispatching booting teams, the GPS is designed to track the locations of the booting teams, and the MDT is used to search the database for scofflaws and to communicate with the Unit's dispatching center. The scofflaw database, entitled the "Hot Book," currently contains data on more than 29,600 scofflaw vehicles.

The "Booting" program is an effective operation, with more than 11,000 vehicles booted in fiscal years 2000-01 and 2001-02. The program is nationally recognized, and its manager and supervisors frequently recive inquiries from cities throughout the nation seeking to model their booting programs after the City's

So, given the effectiveness of our HPV Unit, you better think twice about not paying your parking ticket!"

Comment: Do people in Los Angeles still think they live in the United States of America? One would think that if there were anything to "think twice" about, it would be getting the hell out of the City of Los Angeles!

Jeff, check the following report.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/view.asp?id=106786

It's been running for 3 months and has much information for you. Your vehicle was stalked ("marked") because you willingly paid exhorbitant amounts when it was booted before (what choice did you have? You're dealing with a n**i/mafia mentality. "Pay us the money or we take your car.") They do not check legitimacy of citations or legality before seizures -- which are totally out of control in LA. Just the numbers.

You're not alone. I'll send further info. Hope you called either Patricia Cunningham or Max Reyes. This time, from what you relate, your vehicle should NOT have been booted and/or towed.

Jeff, call P.Cunningham or Max Reyes at the above numbers to see if they can help you out of your current situation. They are City of LA "troubleshooters" for parking violation problems and injustices. I suggest asking to meet with either one with your documentation in hand. If there were not 5 or more VALID parking tickets (not bogus ones or ones which involved special circumstances) your vehicle should not have been booted or towed.

Others have found them receptive to legitimate problems, and you may find them helpful for your situation.