Tuesday, October 03, 2006

STREET CLEANING

On my block, no-parking due to street cleaning is 1 – 3pm, Tuesdays my side, Fridays the other side. A violation is probably around $35. The good news is that they actually clean the streets during those times. The meter-maid precedes the sweeping vehicle by a couple of blocks. So if you get a ticket, at least you know that you actually got in someone’s way.

Not so in Los Angeles, where the street-cleaners come around only once a month, but the meter maids (parking enforcement officers) come around every week. So, if you get a ticket in Los Angeles for violating street-cleaning parking restrictions, chances are they didn’t clean the street that day anyway.

The city council, in response to citizen complaints about this, admitted that it seemed unfair, but that the existing revenue stream coming from weekly ticketing was funding necessary programs, and that, blah, blah, blah, the overall best thing for the residents of Los Angeles was to continue the weekly ticketing. So it’s actually a strange kind of hidden tax, a regressive tax.

This in the long run is terrible public policy and breeds disrespect for the law. Law and penalty must serve a public purpose other than just generating public revenue. It’s not a huge deal. I thought of it because I just heard the street cleaner rumble by.

Consider how pathetic is the job of the meter maid in LA giving tickets when no street cleaning will happen. Obviously parking officers have personal goals that brought them to their jobs, and the compensation is probably pretty high in relation to skill level, but there is no value delivered. It’s a charade. It’s soul-less.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not only did I get the ticket, which I didn't mind paying...and did, but the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department didn't acknowledge receiving it even though it was sent via USPS Priority Mail and with delivery confirmation. The Post Office demonstrated delivery, however the LA Sheriff's Department still does claims it wasn't paid. Did I send them copies of the Post Office Money Order? Yes, twice. That's quite the racket when you consider the multitude of people getting these tickets and being intimidated under threat to pay the ticket more than once. Federal proof of payment to the contrary. Complain about that to the councel meeting. I used to think that was extortion. But everyone knows that the powers that be are above and beyond any law these days. Land of the free? HA! Don't you believe it.

Los Angeles maids said...

If one is to get a ticket, the ticket should be justified. Its just terrible policy. The public are the tax payers providing salary to public officials, they should have a say in all this unfairness.