Driver gets outrage in gear

On the morning of Feb. 25, a photographer named Roman Salicki walked outside his Hollywood apartment to move his car -- it was street-sweeping day -- and found his 1991 Nissan 300ZX was missing.

Salicki called the police and began taking the bus.

The next day, the car was sitting in Canoga Park. Salicki knows this now because on Feb. 26 and March 3, city parking officers put tickets on the car for street-sweeping violations. On March 17, officials had the car -- which was operable -- towed to a yard that contracts with the city.

The yard then called Salicki. To get his car back, they told him, he would have to pay $187 to cover a $104 tow fee, a $32 storage fee, a $48 “city administrative fee” and tax. Insurance often pays such costs -- minus the deductible -- but Salicki only had liability coverage.

Salicki was steamed. The handsets used by city parking cops can tap into a stolen car database, but an officer can’t see the entire database -- only the section listing cars missing in the area where they’re working. He had to pay to recover his car through no fault of his own.

“I’m being victimized twice,” Salicki said. “Once by the thieves, the second by the system.”

Funny he should mention that. In 1996, two former L.A. City Councilmen -- Mike Feuer and Marvin Braude -- said the same thing, when they proposed waiving the city’s then $40 vehicle recovery fee. That proposal died.

The Los Angeles Police Department says that many stolen vehicles must be towed because they have been stripped and are inoperable. L.A. is hardly the only city that does this.

But Salicki’s car was operable, so why didn’t the parking cops just tell him where they found it? Could it be because the towing company wouldn’t have been able to pocket a fee? Why is the city charging a fee when it didn’t do anything?

Jack Rosenberg worked for the L.A. school system for 35 years and now, at 62, is retired and living in Redondo Beach. Once upon a time he had Dodger season tickets -- he’s a So Cal native -- but long ago gave up going to games because of traffic.

“The hassle is absolutely horrible,” he said.

So Rosenberg stays home and the Dodgers don’t get to take his money. He says he’d go to more games if he could take a bus or train to the ballpark-on-a-hill. Yes, the Dodgers sell a lot of tickets (3.8 million last year), but they don’t tell you how many people actually attend.

And that makes you wonder about all the people who love baseball but no longer go.

The Dodgers are one of only three teams in the big leagues -- joining the Texas Rangers and the Florida Marlins -- without transit service to their ballpark.

The Dodgers, the city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority all say that they want mass transit, but no one wants to bear the cost, which could amount to several hundred thousand dollars.

This, of course, is one of those disputes that is beyond stupid. The Dodgers have the largest parking lot in the majors (cha-ching!).

The city and MTA have multibillion-dollar budgets (cha-ching!). Memo to both: split the cost and replicate the great bus service to the Hollywood Bowl subsidized by L.A. County.

Other, smaller teams are thinking outside the box. In Kansas City, Royals fans who pay $5 to ride the bus to games get $5 off their ticket price. And in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Rays fans who carpool to games get free parking. Nice.

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The New York state Legislature has until today to approve a congestion pricing proposal for New York City that would charge motorists $8 to enter lower Manhattan. Proponents say it would reduce traffic and raise $490 million a year for mass transit improvements.

The federal government has committed more than $350 million to New York’s plan. But if Albany kills it, those dollars may be freed up for a controversial plan in L.A. County to charge motorists to use carpool lanes on the 10 and 210 freeways in the San Gabriel Valley and the 110 south of downtown.

The theory is that the tolls, which would escalate during rush hours, would improve speeds in over-burdened HOV lanes and encourage people to use the lanes off-hours. Tolls would go to mass transit.

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With lots of talk of improving area roads, what specific fix would best ease your commute?

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E-mail me your wisdom or outrage at steve.hymon@latimes.com.