Reader Rant: Parking Shuffle Doesn't Fly in Pasadena

Another week, and someone else with a problem with ticketing in Pasadena. Who knows if there's another side to the story, but a reader writes: "On Dec 26, 2008 I was parked in Pasadena at a 2 hour parking zone. Before the 2 hour time limit was up, I diligently moved my car to another parking spot, this one across the street to another 2 hour parking zone. After about 1/2 hour I was ready to leave the area, so I went to get my car but found I had been issued a parking ticket, with 56 more minutes left to be legally parked there. I decided to contest my ticket. That was overturned, so I scheduled a hearing with an administrative officer. The violation is code 10.40.170D about parking time limits. That code reads " Except as is provided in Chapter 10.42, when authorized signs are in place giving notice thereof, no person shall stop or stand or park any vehicle for a period of time longer than the parking tune limit indicated by such sign." (Chapter 10.42 refers to having a temporary parking permit.)

When filling out my request for a hearing at Pasadena City Hall, the parking citation employee mentioned in passing that I probably won't win because I should have moved my car 1 block away from the original parking spot. I thought that may well be, but no where is that posted on the 2-hour parking sign. What's more, nowhere is that mentioned in the violation code for which I was cited.

"At the hearing, the administrative officer couldn't even produce me a printed copy of the code book. He had an outdated California parking code book from 2005. He assured me it's online. Well, it's not. Why should we be ticketed for something that's not posted anywhere publicly, much less only posted online. Even if it were posted online and not posted on the sign, are we supposed to thoroughly read the code book and know the fine details of every code before we do anything lest we do it illegally?

This kind of violation could have easily been avoided if on the signs it's posted "2 hour parking only - applies to 500 yards from sign location". I'm still waiting for the results of my hearing." And we await the results of the hearing. [Image via the Pasadena Weekly, which wrote about Pasadena's "nefarious" ticketing]