This is a follow-up of my own experience with West Hollywood Parking Violations. I have heard horror stories about how the WeHo meter maids will completely make up information just to give out a ticket, and though my experience isn't as bad as that, it is equally as frustrating. On an evening out with my roommate to see a local band play at the viper room, we parked around the corner on Palm Avenue off of Sunset and pumped quarters into the meter. Upon returning to the car at around 1:45AM (we always pay the meter until closing at 2AM) there was a ticket on the car. "expired meter". We looked at the meter... 7 minutes left. My roommate made a mental note to call about the next day from work, but we knew it wasn't going to be feasable to contest it since we didnt have a camera to take pictures of the meter. It was our first ticket, so we gave in and paid.
A week later, we return to the same location and consider paying the $10 to valet this time. Neither of us had cash, and a metered space on Sunset had just opened. Once again, we pull in and make sure to carfully read the signs and pump all of our last quarters, nickels and dimes into the meter. This time, we give ourselves until 2:30 just in case.
We return to the car at 1:15AM. To our horror, there is not one, but TWO tickets! What could have happened?! We look at the meter— plenty of time left— then inspect the tickets. One is on both opposite ends of the dashboard and crumpled up from the rain, so we figure that the second officer that came by must not have noticed the first ticket and issued the second ticket by mistake. But, what for?" PARKING ON GRADES" the ticket displayes. We dont even know what grades are, and have NO idea what to make of this. The second ticket reads the same. Under comments, it reads "WHEELS STRAIGHT/SIGN POSTED". We figure something must be wrong and I decide to call the next day.
The curt representative on the phone explains to me that BOTH tickets are valid. Why? Because they were issed on different days. The first was issed 1/21 at 11:47PM, the second on 1/22 at 12:07AM. A twenty-minute difference. Apparently you can get two tickets for the same violation if you're parking overnight - doesn't matter if its 5 minutes, or 24 hours. What does "PARKING ON GRADES" mean? We didn't turn in our wheels on the hill, and apparently you can get a ticket for that. (I never knew) Out of curiousity, we return to the location and check it out. No such sign is posted. The only sign that is posted reads the available parking times, the appropriate permits exempt, and no parking on wednesday mornings for street cleaning. WHAT A SCAM.
Street parking off of Sunset to save on the valet ended up costing us over $100. And contesting? Hah. A waste of time. The city has all the power and can write up and justify whatever they want. Not only is it a bummer for the local music nightlife scene, it is a strong reminder of how much control the city actually has.
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