LOS ANGELES : Mayor Wins Backing for Private Parking Patrol

The city Transportation Commission on Thursday endorsed Mayor Richard Riordan’s plan to privatize parking ticket-writing operations on the Westside.

But the panel split on requiring private companies to pay wages comparable to Civil Service salaries. Riordan proposed the pilot program as a streamlining and revenue-making venture.

“Efficiency is not achieved through paying people lower wages,” Commissioner Ryan Snyder said. “That is not an efficiency. That is just done at the expense of the workers.”

But some commissioners do not believe the city can legally push that requirement. Instead, the panel’s recommendation included a statement that “the city has interest in employing local residents in good jobs.”

The Service Employees International Union Local 347, which represents the city’s 500 parking control officers, echoed the same concern in a public hearing in May.

The commission further recommended that the Department of Transportation be allowed to compete for the contract against private companies. In addition, the winning contract must promote gender and ethnic diversity on its parking enforcement force.

Administration officials estimate that the pilot program can generate an extra $9 million in ticket revenues each year. The program will add 100 officers, not contract out existing jobs.

If the council approves the plan, the city will follow the lead of other municipalities, such as West Hollywood. The department already contracts out other parking functions, such as ticket collections.