Faulty parking meters tick off many readers

Little devils. Coin-munching beasts. Epithets that can’t be printed in a family newspaper.

These are just a few names that readers suggested for the 42,000 or so parking meters operated by the city of Los Angeles.

A quick recap: In this space last month we told the tale of Los Angeles resident Mariko Van Kampen, who got a parking ticket after a meter on Exposition Boulevard gobbled her coins but didn’t display the proper amount of time.

That’s not surprising. About 10% of the meters in Los Angeles are broken at any given time, by the city’s count. So let’s start there....

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Is it legal to park at a meter that reads “FAILED?”

Yes, as long as you don’t exceed the posted time limit.

That said, there is a key point that readers thought I omitted: meters that read “failed” have a nasty habit of sometimes resetting.

In other words, you may be sitting in Starbucks thinking the meter is showing “failed” when it is actually showing you have two minutes left.

Other meters show bizarre behaviors along those lines. Harley W. Lond, managing editor of the Hollywood Reporter, wrote to tell about the time in Brentwood when he pumped four quarters into a working meter.

“It seems that after we put in our money, the meter ‘failed,’ then reset itself, and we got a ticket,” he wrote.

Ouch.

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How easy is it to win an appeal of a parking citation?

The biggest gripe from readers is that the appeals process seems designed to wear down the innocent until they fork over their money.

Although not a broken meter story per se, the best reader tale came from Judith Linde, who was cited by a Los Angeles parking enforcement officer in October for not having a front license plate.

The problem, Linde said, is that her car had a front license plate. She even flagged down another traffic officer who agreed with Linde that her car was wearing a plate.

After her son, an attorney, wrote to the city’s parking violations bureau appealing the ticket, Linde received a response: send $10 and a photo of the car with its front plate and the city would drop the original $25 citation.

Linde’s answer: “not bloody likely.”

Nonetheless, Linde finally relented and paid the $25 ticket in order to secure a hearing late this month. And the hearing’s location? The city wanted her to come downtown, but Linde secured a date in the city’s Westside office, which is closer to her home. Linde believes the whole affair has taken on an Orwellian sheen. It’s not the cost of the ticket that bothers her -- she lives in Beverly Hills and drives a 2005 Lexus, by the way -- but the principle.

“At one point I called the parking violations bureau to explain what happened, and the woman said that if you got a ticket there’s a reason, and that’s why you have to pay a fine,” Linde said. “I asked ‘Do you believe one of your officers made an error?’ and she said ‘No, if you got a ticket, there’s a reason.’ ”

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What kind of bureaucracy operates this way?

Remember the episode of “MASH” in which the doctors are trying to get an incubator from the Army?

Hawkeye: We’re not asking for a jukebox or a pizza oven.

Capt. Sloan: Oh, those I can let you have.

Col. Henry Blake: No kidding! Hey, those would be great on movie nights. You got any pizza requisition forms?

Capt. Sloan: Just use the standard S stroke 1798 and write in ‘Pizza’ where it says ‘Machine Gun.’

That pretty much says it all. Nonetheless, we’ll be following Metergate in this space in coming weeks, and don’t be shy about e-mailing your broken meter horror stories to us.

In the meantime, avoid meters that read “failed,” don’t park at ones that are broken and if you get a ticket, ask the city whether the offending meter was recently reported as broken.

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Should Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have gone to the voters with his school plan?

This is a good time to revisit that question with the mayor’s plan to gain control over the schools having been completely rejected last month by a Superior Court judge. The mayor is appealing that ruling.

Early in 2006, when the mayor was still drawing up plans for a takeover, there was talk of him putting the issue to voters. But that plan was scuttled after internal polling by the mayor’s office showed it might not have won and that voters didn’t like his plan to get rid of an elected school board, according to City Hall sources with knowledge of the poll.

There were other issues. The mayor realized that winning at the polls would be a decisive victory but it would require a nasty campaign that would open even deeper wounds with the district that would be difficult to heal. And there would be little recourse if he lost such an election.

So Villaraigosa went to the Legislature and gambled that he could get something passed -- which he did -- and that he would be able to defend it in court. He also may be able to help elect a slate of school board candidates in March who could withdraw the district’s lawsuit or are open to giving the mayor more of a say in district matters.

So it’s hard to say that Villaraigosa made a poor political choice. But time will tell whether it was the one that will allow him to ultimately prevail.

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How did the city of Los Angeles’ float fare in the Rose Parade this year?

In the view of this column, L.A.’s 2007 float (see photo) was a significant improvement over last year’s edition, with more color and creativity.

Still, the city again failed to win one of the 24 trophies handed out by the Tournament of Roses for the best floats. That means that L.A. floats have won eight prizes since 1930 and just one in the last seven years.

Meanwhile, much smaller cities again delivered a flowery spanking to the City of Low Expectations, a.k.a. Los Angeles. Downey, Cerritos, Palmdale, Sierra Madre and Glendale all took home prizes, as they often do.

Money is a factor, but so is will. Los Angeles raised about $125,000 for its float this year, compared with about $60,000 in Downey.

The difference: residents of Downey design and build the float themselves each year, while Los Angeles contracts with a professional float-builder in Pasadena -- meaning the city’s float never actually sets foot in L.A.

In fact, it’s a small miracle that Los Angeles even has a float. The City Council cut funding for the float several years ago; Councilman Tom LaBonge fought the move and helped create the foundation operating out of the city’s tourism bureau to build the float.

“As long as there is a breath in my body, we’re going to have a float in that parade,” LaBonge said last week. “This is the biggest and best public event in the region, and we need to be in it.”

So here’s what we’re going to do: If you have an idea or drawing for a float, e-mail it to the address below, and we’ll run it in this space in April. We’ll let you know next year’s theme when the Tournament of Roses announces it.

This column will put on its thinking cap and offer up some swell ideas. And get this: LaBonge has vowed to have the city’s float in future years towed back to Olvera Street in downtown so residents can see it after the parade, an excellent idea.

So think big. Los Angeles may be down, but there’s still time.

NEXT WEEK: Residents fight to save a trailer park.

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steve.hymon@latimes.com