But Officer, the Meter Is Broken, I Swear

You may recall Richard Riordan remarking on the “Ask the Mayor” radio show that he felt like strangling the officer who ticketed him for a parking violation when the meter was broken.

Police Chief Bernard Parks had better luck with a parking officer recently--and, coincidentally, his good fortune came while he was subbing for Riordan on the same show on KFWB-AM (980).

During Parks’ chat with moderator Kathleen Sullivan, a station employee noticed that a traffic officer appeared to be writing a ticket for Parks’ unmarked car, which was parked at an expired meter.

The employee told the officer whose car it was.

“He [the officer] stepped back and said, ‘Well, it does look like an official car,’ ” related KFWB news editor Kelly Whelihan.

Ticket dismissed.

When the chief was informed of the incident, he told listeners that when he parked he had noticed that the meter was broken.

Whereupon host Sullivan mischievously added that she was sure the chief would have it fixed right away.

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SANTA MONICA SAYS NO TO HOODS: A few years ago, a Santa Monica man named David Bencke tried to market an invention for motorists that would deal with the problem of a broken parking meter: a hood that could be placed over the machine to indicate to any passing officer that it was on the fritz (see accompanying).

Bencke thought the hood would save motorists the trouble of fighting an unjust ticket in court--a time-consuming proposition even if it is dismissed.

But the city of Santa Monica, contending that the hoods amounted to meter tampering, went to court and put Bencke out of business.

Parking ticket revenue is, of course, near and dear to the heart of Santa Monica. On the other hand, the inventor also admitted that one possible flaw with his invention was that some drivers might place the hoods over healthy meters. Hard to believe, I know.

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SICK CALL: A recent study found that 11% of the city’s new digital parking meters are discombobulated at any one time. So it probably isn’t surprising that the city has begun pasting stickers on the coin-confiscators that instruct drivers where to call in case they encounter a broken one (see accompanying).

Fine. But let’s say you find such a meter with the “violation” flag showing. Do you call on your cell phone and circle the block until the repairman arrives? Or do you park there and gamble that you won’t be ticketed anyway?

Anything can happen.

Ask the mayor.

Or the police chief.

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LAND CRUISER? I had a friend who used to call his old Cadillac a “boat.” But the model used in a display noticed by Tom Miller (see photo) wouldn’t seem to fit into that category.

miscelLAny:

Irvin Sterman of Encino saw irony in the name of a North Hollywood company that just filed for bankruptcy: Bay Area Cash Flow Systems Inc.

When he’s not looking for a parking place, Steve Harvey can be reached by telephone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.