P.V. Estates Buzzes Over Jailing of 2 Women on Parking Charge

Rosina Baur, a 30-year resident of affluent Palos Verdes Estates who says she was never in trouble with the police before, was arrested, handcuffed, jailed, fingerprinted, photographed and frisked because of an alleged parking violation in the city.

Police say Baur, manager of a Coldwell Banker real estate office, and Anne Bisco, a receptionist in the office, wiped chalk marks off their tires to sidestep a one-hour parking limit in the car-choked Malaga Cove shopping plaza on April 21.

The two women were hauled down to the Palos Verdes Estates police station and booked on suspicion of interfering with an authorized person, a misdemeanor. They were released to appear in South Bay Municipal Court on June 5.

“It is outrageous that they should charge me with a crime,” Baur said Thursday. “I have always considered myself a good citizen. I raised my children to respect the law--and now Mother is the first criminal in the family.

“Everybody thinks it is hysterical--but it is going to cost me thousands of dollars to defend myself, and that is not right, is it?”

As word of the arrests spread during the past week, the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department stopped talking about the case. City officials are defending the arrests but don’t like the publicity.

“The police officers did the best they could. They were not overzealous at all,” said Mayor Pro Tem Jim Nyman. “Responding to the requests of numerous merchants, the Police Department is enforcing the parking regulations.”

Folks who frequent Malaga Cove know that parking is difficult and that success goes to the swift.

Bisco, whose reception desk looks out on the parking lot, said she serves as the office lookout for the Palos Verdes Estates meter maid.

“We keep an eye on when she comes around and then we rush out,” she said.

Last Friday, Bisco said, the meter maid was around when she and Baur went out. Bisco admitted that she did not seek a new space, which would have complied with regulations, but merely rolled her car forward.

“I looked at the chalk mark. It was still on the tires, so I rubbed it lightly,” she said. “But the other lady did move (her car) entirely.”

Baur said she drove her car around the lot and put it in a different space than the one she had vacated, which was filled by a Coldwell Banker agent who had just driven into the lot.

According to Baur, the arresting officer came to her office a few minutes later, asked about the two cars parked out front, placed her and Bisco under arrest and told them:

“I could give you a ticket, but that wouldn’t be enough for you people. You have to be taught a lesson so that you and other people won’t do this again.”

Baur said she told the officer that the meter maid had made a mistake.

“I never wiped off anything,” Baur said Thursday. “I reparked my car, which is completely legal . . . but they just would not listen to me.”

The police officer “marched Anne and myself” halfway across the lot, handcuffed them and drove them to jail, the 5-foot-5, 130-pound Baur said. At the jail in the police station, they were fingerprinted, mug shots were taken and the two were frisked for weapons by a female officer.

“I said, ‘Is this necessary?’ She said, ‘Yes, because you might have a razor in your hair,’ ” Baur said.

In the aftermath of the arrest, even supporters of tougher parking enforcement are aghast.

Gus Velarde, proprietor of the Sidewalk Cafe and president of the Malaga Cove Business and Professional Assn., said he is “totally offended” at what happened to Baur and Bisco.

“I had no idea those kind of procedures were enforced,” he said. “I thought it would show up on your auto renewal license. I would be upset if it happened to me. Anybody would.”

In response, City Manager Gordon Siebert said: “I have extensively reviewed the procedures followed by the Police Department, and I believe them to be correct.”

Nyman said critics should note that Baur did not receive a mere parking ticket.

“In our city, erasure of marks is a misdemeanor . . . a higher crime” than a parking citation, he said. “The officers followed the rules.”

But despite the municipality’s stiff upper lip, officials made it clear that the heat is getting to them.

Police Chief Gary Johansen, who was out of town Thursday, left orders for his officers to keep silent about the incident.

“They just want it to go away,” said Lt. Ed Jacola, who said he was fielding questions about the arrests in the chief’s absence.

But Jacola demurred when he was asked to release the arrest report.

“I’ve got to work here the rest of my career,” he said.

Nyman said: “I hope this kind of thing doesn’t happen again. The community doesn’t need this kind of publicity.”

Baur is willing to forget the entire affair.

“All I want is for the city to drop the charges,” she said.

“I won’t sue anybody. I want my dignity restored. I am not out for blood.”