May 18, 2009 10:17 pm US/Pacific
Call Kurtis: LA Parking Tickets
City Improves Since Call Kurtis Investigation
Received A Ticket From Southern California? Let Us Know
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―
The City of Los Angeles has written parking tickets to Northern Californians who were never in the city. It's been a problem for quite a few viewers.
Three viewers were pulled into the CBS13 parking ticket investigation after receiving citations from Los Angeles: one for $134, one for $70, and another for $335.
James Karnes of Fairfield says he was at work in San Ramon when his ticket was written. John Odenkirk was sound asleep at home in Nevada City. Terri Mashek says she was at work in Yuba City.
"I was pretty shocked. My truck has never been south of Tracy," Mashek said.
None of them could get the City of Los Angeles to listen.
"I felt like I was being scammed," said Odenkirk.
"I've not been to L.A., but I'm not going to drive to L.A. to fight a $70 ticket and I'm pretty sure that's what they were counting on for everybody," Mashek said.
We have been tracking Northern Californians wrongfully getting ticketed from Los Angeles for three years. Our last investigation in November began after Frank Densmore of Clements got a ticket for his trailer, which hasn't moved from its spot at the Stillman McGee Park in years, where he works as the park host.
"I've never been to Los Angeles, and I've got no way to move that trailer," Densmore said.
We reported the city writes more than 12-thousand parking tickets a day. Records show on average 48 of them each day go to the wrong people.
"They're trying to blackmail me out of $35 or $70 dollars. That's what it is, blackmail," Densmore said at the time.
After we reported his story, we invited viewers to write in if they've received a ticket from the City of Los Angeles that wasn't yours. We delivered all those complaints to the City of LA Department of Transportation.
Bruce Gillman is the spokesperson for the L.A. parking violations bureau. He helped clear all eleven tickets we sent his way including Densmore's, Mashek's, Karnes' and Odenkirk's.
"The errors we discovered were principally typographical, with having numbers and letters off," Gillman said.
He says since our investigation officers and staff have been told to take their time to make sure they're accurately writing tickets and entering the correct data into the system. And if a bad ticket still goes out?
"Once somebody were to receive a citation and contact us and told us they were never in the city in that time frame, we will definitely spend more time in trying to eliminate those difficulties for the individual," Gillman said.
Supervisors are supposed to lend a better ear.
"It was very nice to get the letter from the City of LA, said my complaint was valid and they had dropped the ticket against me," Odenkirk said.
Mashek and Karnes, who paid their tickets, received refund checks. The City of Los Angeles hopes to cut down on the number of ticket mistakes.
They say whenever there are humans involved, you'll have mistakes. If you get a ticket that isn't yours, the city of Los Angeles says you don't have to pay it.
Don't ignore it. Follow the instructions and fight it.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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