Canoga Park ‘Ticket Office’ Reduces Waiting

If only paying a traffic fine or postponing a court date were as easy as getting a fast-food burger.

Well, Los Angeles County officials say it is, at least in the West San Fernando Valley. A new Los Angeles Municipal Court “ticket office” has been opened at 21201 Victory Boulevard in Canoga Park to handle any traffic matter that does not require a judge.

Drivers with traffic tickets can pay fines, schedule court dates or apply to attend a traffic safety course without waiting in long lines at branch courthouses in Van Nuys and San Fernando, officials said.

A spot comparison Friday afternoon drove the point home. “It was almost empty,” marveled Hector Cano, 31, of Granada Hills, shortly before 3 p.m. after showing Canoga Park court officials proof that he recently attended traffic school.

About the same time, 34 people were standing in line to have their routine traffic matters handled at the Van Nuys courthouse.

Opened April 24

The office, which opened April 24, is the first such facility in the San Fernando Valley. The Municipal Court’s Los Angeles judicial district has operated a similar office in Westchester for more than a year and plans to open a third later this year in South-Central Los Angeles, Presiding Judge Larry P. Fidler said.

“It’s unfair to make somebody wait a lengthy amount of time in a courtroom” for a traffic matter that does not require a judge, he said.

People coming to pay their traffic tickets in the nondescript two-story office building “were surprised it was in here,” said Lynne Garcia, the office’s supervisor. “They were looking for a big, ugly building.”

Officials hope to persuade most people to pay their tickets and do other traffic business by mail, said Peggy Shuttleworth, chief clerk of the Municipal Court’s Valley division.

In June, 992 people used the Canoga Park office. Shuttleworth cautioned that the office might not be used to its fullest extent for several months because its address has been printed only on tickets issued by the California Highway Patrol. The location will soon be on Los Angeles Police Department tickets in the West Valley, she said.

The office will be dedicated in ceremonies Monday.