Clerical Complications Upset Drivers : City Hits a Few Bumps in Parking-Fine Crackdown

The city of Los Angeles has undertaken an ambitious effort to collect fines on more than 1 million parking tickets that motorists have failed to pay over the last five years, but the crackdown has created hard feelings in addition to a hefty cash bonus for the city.

Hundreds of worried and angry residents, many of whom, because of a computer error, received citations for vehicles they no longer own, have turned up at offices of the state Department of Motor Vehicles to search old ownership records.

“It has been a hassle,” said Malcolm Smith, regional manager for 17 DMV offices from San Pedro to Van Nuys. “Not even so much from our viewpoint, but it is a very terrible thing to lay on the citizens. They are the ones who are suffering.”

Some motorists have also complained to Los Angeles city officials about what one of them called “the heavy hand” of the city’s Parking Violations Bureau, which has sent about 500,000 final notices over the last four months to alleged violators across the country. As of last month, the city had collected $2.6 million of the $55 million in outstanding fines, and it continues to send about 60,000 additional notices a month.

The collection notices warn that unpaid citations “may constitute a lien on any vehicle owned by you” and could “affect your right to use or drive your vehicle.” They conclude: “This is a very serious matter that requires your immediate attention.”

DMV officials said many motorists who have received the notices insist that they no longer owned the vehicle when the parking tickets were issued. But some of them have been tripped up in proving that claim because the DMV keeps records for only three to four years.

“They want $63 for a violation that occured three years after I sold the car,” said one incredulous motorist from Canoga Park who asked not to be identified. “And I haven’t been able to find any records to prove it. Who (keeps) their records after a few years?”

Even the DMV’s Smith was among those who got a notice from the city. But knowing that the DMV eventually destroys ownership records, he had kept duplicates that proved that he no longer owned a car that had been ticketed.

Other motorists’ problems were the result of a computer programming error that caused 50,000 notices to be sent to people even though state records clearly show that they did not own the vehicles when the parking citations were issued.

Officials Apologize

City parking officials said they have apologized to those motorists who contacted the city about the incorrect notices, but said most of the 50,000 recipients have not been alerted to the mistake.

“In many instances, they probably disregarded it,” said Bob Yates, assistant general manager of the Department of Transportation, who oversees parking violations. “Instead of going out and sending out new notices to the world, we have dealt with it on an individual basis.”

Some may have even paid the fines, but parking officials said they would refund the money if contacted by the motorists.

The programming error was corrected in May after several employees at Lockheed Datacom Systems Corp., the firm hired by the city to collect its parking ticket fines, were fired because of the foul-up, officials said.

“It caused a massive influx of telephone calls,” said Jay Carsman, the city’s parking systems coordinator. “Heads did roll.”

Carsman said the crackdown was never intended as “petty harassment” of law abiding citizens. He said the city accepts various forms of proof, such as the bill of sale, from motorists who claim to have sold their vehicles but cannot find their DMV records.

When there is a legitimate dispute, he said, the city will refer the case to court. “We are being as understanding as we can,” he said.

Several city and state officials relate tales of motorists showing up at DMV offices throughout Los Angeles, including one about a man in a wheelchair who quietly sobbed at the North Hollywood branch after he was unable to locate records proving that he had sold his car.

“When people are vulnerable and are put in a situation where they feel so badly, they begin to worry,” said Mary Presby, deputy to City Council President John Ferraro, who has helped about a dozen residents resolve their ticket problems. “We are all very dependent on our cars. It is very scary.”

Shirley Deandrea had to make several trips to the DMV office in North Hollywood about a notice she received for 3-year-old citations on a car she sold in 1984. Finally, she was able to get the necessary records. “I was shocked,” Deandrea said. “I was very aggravated by it.”

Defend Crackdown

City parking officials defend the crackdown, saying it is intended to let scofflaws know that the city means business. About half of all people who receive tickets pay their fines “off the windshield”--without any prodding from the city--and an additional 15% pay after receiving routine reminders. Last year, the city collected about $90 million after issuing 4.3 million tickets.

The final notices are directed at the 35% who simply refuse to pay, the officials said. At the city’s request, the DMV will not reregister vehicles with outstanding parking tickets until the fines are paid. But the arrangement does not apply to new owners of cars with outstanding citations incurred by previous owners. Nor does it help the city collect fines from motorists who do not bother to register their cars.

“To the people who like to work the system, they will say it is terrible what we are doing,” Carsman said. “But to everyone else: ‘If I get a parking ticket, I have to pay it.’ If you can’t follow up with a ticket and make it stick, then why issue it in the first place?”

As a practical matter, the city is limited in its ability to follow through on threats to force payment of some unpaid citations. The city is powerless against motorists with unpaid tickets more than 5 years old because of the statute of limitations. And for technical reasons it will be unable to place liens--which would block an owner with unpaid tickets on one vehicle from registering any of his vehicles--until early next year, Carsman said.

After inquiries from a Times reporter last week, Councilman Ferraro introduced a motion on Friday calling on the state Legislature to change the DMV registration policy. Ferraro proposed having motorists keep their old license plates instead of transferring the plates to the new owner, as is now the case. That way, motorists with outstanding tickets would be unable to avoid paying them by simply selling the car. City parking officials said the system is common in many other states, but has been rejected in California as too expensive.

At the DMV, officials said the city’s stepped-up enforcement caught them off guard, which may have contributed to the confusion four months ago when the first batch of notices were mailed. The officials said that the DMV is equipped to help motorists trying to verify ownership of their vehicles, but that they were unprepared for the volume of requests.

Checked With City

“When we got the first couple of these, we right away called the city of Los Angeles,” said Robert Benson, manager of the DMV public inquiry bureau in Sacramento. “They told us right up front what they were doing. There were no bones made about it. We were hoping it was just an isolated incident, but our hopes weren’t realized.”

Although the vast majority of problems have been handled over the counter at local DMV offices, Benson said his office has responded in writing to about 20 requests from motorists who had reached a dead end at the local office. The DMV charges for some record requests.

Over the last few months, complaints about the parking tickets have equaled those involving expired vehicle registrations, which Benson described as the longtime favorite of disgruntled motorists statewide.

Despite the problems, city parking officials describe the crackdown as a success. Of the $2.6 million the city has collected so far, one-third of the money has gone to Lockheed Datacom under its contract with the city. In January, when the crackdown was approved by the City Council, parking officials said they hoped to recover between 5% and 10% of the $55 million in unpaid fines.

“From the taxpayers’ point of view, the city is doing its business in an efficient manner,” Carsman said. “We are doing what the taxpayers demand us to do. . . . But it doesn’t earn you any friends.”