On Wednesday, September 22, I was vacationing and visiting near Venice Beach. I found an open parking space and inserted four (4) quarters into the parking meter. The meter read 1:00 so I was certain that the meter was working properly. After about 45 minutes, we returned to our rental vehicle, we were surprised to find a citation under the windshield wiper. My first reaction was to check the meter which read 0:12 indicating that 12 minutes remained on my meter.in the midst of my confusion, I spotted a Parking Enforcement Officer directly across the street, whom I thought could explain the mix up.
She was conferring with a colleague, so I politely waited with my question. I asked, why was I issued this citation (see enclosed copy)? She replied, read the citation. I answered, I did, but I don't understand. It reads parked over time limit' but the meter still reads 12 minutes. She replied, have a nice day, sir. I said, I'll have a nice day when you explain this citation. I continued, can you please cross the street and I'll show you the remaining time on my meter? Again, she said have a nice day, sir.
As you can understand, her taunting demeanor just frustrated me even further and only helped to make a bad situation even worse. It's not about $30. If I violated a law, I would pay the fine and take it as a learning experience for the next time I visit Los Angeles. It is clear that I was parked three spaces from the end and had 12 minutes remaining on the meter three spaces from the end. I can only assume that this citation was issued in error. The Parking Enforcement Officer (K. Humphrey) did not even give me the courtesy to justify a response.
If the City of Los Angeles would use my $30 to better train its employees, maybe I woudln't mind as much!
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