 |
| Welcome to Ticket Madre? |
Sierra Madre hires parking enforcement contractor (click here): Looking to beef up its lax parking enforcement after budget cuts last year, the city is contracting with the same company that handles enforcement in several Pasadena-area cities. Inter-Con Security Systems is the only company in the area that handles parking enforcement, so the City Council had few options when it approved the new contract Tuesday.
Police Chief Larry Giannone said it would have been preferable to compare qualified vendors, but he's certain that Inter-Con will bring some consistency to the city. "I'm confident by the referrals we get that they'll do a good job," Giannone said.
Patrol officers have been handling parking enforcement since the Police Department's code enforcement position was eliminated last year, but ticketing is a low priority. Police have received several complaints about lax enforcement, particularly from businesses and schools, Giannone said.
Inter-Con is expected to boost the number of tickets issued per day from seven to 15, which could bring in an extra $36,000 in revenue, according to a staff report. The Inter-Con contract is for about $64,000, expected to be covered by parking fines.
The company has a heavy-handed reputation in Pasadena, and council members noted a large number of complaints during a contract renewal in 2009.
As you just read, in this article James Figueroa alludes to Inter-Con having a "heavy-handed reputation." Nothing at all like that came up during our City Council's discussion of this matter, so I decided to take a look around the Internet. It didn't take but a minute to find this June of 2009 Star News article:
City renews parking-control contract (click here) The City Council renewed its parking enforcement contract with a company residents and businesses have criticized for being too aggressive in handing out tickets. The company, Inter-Con Security, was criticized last year when its contract was renewed. Many residents said they had been unfairly ticketed.
The city reviewed some of those complaints and corrected them, officials said, and the council elected to renew the company's contract at its meeting Monday night. In doing so, however, city officials noted they've received multiple complaints from members of the city's business community, who continue to be unhappy with Inter-Con.
"The businesses really bear the brunt of the complaints from customers who are upset when they get a ticket," Paul Little, president of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview.
Although he was not necessarily opposed to renewing Inter-Con's contract, Little said he wanted the city to first arrange a meeting between business community members and Inter-Con officials to work out some issues. Michael Hawkins, who owns the Green Street Restaurant, said he has had problems with Inter-Con. He recounted how a parking enforcement officer caused trouble for a vendor delivering cases of wine to his restaurant.
"The guy walks up and tells him he has three minutes to move 40 cases of wine," said Hawkins. "We've been in business over 26 years and never been harassed this way."
In a letter to the council, Steve Mulheim, president of the Old Pasadena Management District, said he had received numerous customer complaints about officers, describing them as "aggressive," "rude," and "disrespectful."
Even so, council members renewed Inter-Cons contract, over the objections of Councilwoman Margaret McAustin, who opposed the renewal. She cited a number of complaints she had received. "When this came to us a year ago, there were a number of complaints expressed, and I'm not positive anything has been done," said McAustin, who cast the sole vote against the contract renewal.
Several council members said they, too, had received complaints from residents, but many of the complaints were about the city's parking policies.
Several residents who contacted the Star-News complained about poor posting of information on parking signs and about the appeal process for tickets. Melissa Michelson, a Pasadena City College professor, said she got a ticket for breaking a two-hour parking restriction. She moved her car within the two-hour period to another spot on the same block, not knowing that the two-hour restriction applied to the entire block.
"The hearing officer told me that was common knowledge," said Michelson. "But I never heard of it... it wasn't posted on the signs, and I couldn't even find it when I read the municipal code."
Michelson lost the case when she appeared in front of Inter-Con's hearing officer. She planned to appeal it but elected not to stand in a long line at the courthouse to fill out the paperwork. "That line was enormous," said Michelson.
You can't help but wonder if any of the referrals Chief Giannone spoke of came from the residents of Pasadena. My guess would be that while the Chief might have spoken to some people from other jurisdictions, the majority of these referrals would have likely been pointed out to him by Inter-Con themselves.
And if you are sick to death of our City being sued, you will be relieved to know that Inter-Con apparently can be litigious as well. This from the Los Angeles Times:
Council Votes to Settle With Security Firm (click here): The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday agreed to pay a security company $430,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging libel and breach of contract against the city. The suit stemmed from security work performed by Alhambra-based Inter-Con Security Systems Inc. at several city locations, including all of the San Fernando Valley's quake-damaged "ghost towns."
Initially, the dispute centered on disagreements over pay rates and work-related expenses. The libel charges came into play after former city security chief Gonzalo Cureton strongly criticized Inter-Con's job performance at the ghost town sites.
The settlement with Inter-Con had been delayed because some council members insisted that a provision be added to the agreement stating that the payment was in no way connected to the allegations of libel contained in the suit. Language to that effect was included in the final agreement, said Deputy City Atty. Dion O'Connell.
The council, O'Connell said, was worried about the "chilling effect" that a settlement of the libel charges might have on city employees speaking in public. "The council didn't want to send a message that they were caving in on the libel/slander issue," O'Connell said. "The payment is only for contractual obligations and expenses."
It could be that the prospect of grubbing up a little extra cash from parking tickets clouded the minds of four of our City Council members, causing them to neglect their duty to conduct a reasonable investigation into a company they were about to sign a contract with. Particularly with a third party security guard company having law enforcement ramifications. More money possibly being just about all they care to consider these days.
Perhaps this matter should be put on the agenda for another look. You know, before unleashing these possibly problematic rent-a-ticketers on an already ticket weary town?
Of course, this would mean that certain members of the City Council would have to admit they were wrong. I'm not too certain they're really up to it. Or, for that matter, if they would even care.
http://sierramadretattler.blogspot.com