Pico Rivera officials safe from parking tickets?

Posted on September 12, 2009 by mngiadmin
31994-parking-ticket.jpg

Parking tickets.

We all get them, except that is if you’re one of the 15 to 20 Pico Rivera officials and their family members who were exempt from parking violations.

A public safety employee — who requested anonymity citing job safety — told reporter Bethania Palma Markus that six city parking enforcement officers were told in March not to ticket vehicles belonging to certain elected officials and an administrator.

How would they be able to tell?

Apparently, the hand-held devices they use to issue citations were programmed so that the license plate numbers of vehicles belonging to those people would show up as “exempted vehicles,’” according to the unnamed employee.

City officials said the policy was a way to keep the City Council and the city manager from being ticketed while out on city business.

But the employee said they were told not to ticket certain relatives of the council and city manager as well.

“Why should we penalize our City Council when they are doing (city) business?” City Manager Chuck Fuentes asked at a council meeting last week. “I think it is very legitimate.”

This entry was posted in Pico Rivera. Bookmark the permalink.
  • Anonymouse

    That is bullsh**!! The laws are set to protect the members of the community from harm. Yet city leaders are allowed to break those rules??? I wonder what will happen if somebody accidentally crashes their vehicle into one of the exempted vehicles while it is “legally” parked. Hopefully it goes before a judge who throws that ass-backwards law out and opens the city to lots and lots of litigation! What a bunch of hypocrites!

  • Ian Jones

    City business or not members of the council and staff need to follow the laws that they swore to uphold. Yes, that includes parking regulations. The double standard is revolting.

  • Raul Murga

    Two emails evidencing the “fixing” of parking tickets by Chuck Fuentes for the financial benefit of Ron Beilke (obtained through a public records request) were submitted to Dave Demerjian of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office in March 2007. Additionally submitted, was a written request for an investigation into the matter as Ron Beilke gained financially by not having to register the vehicle, by not having the vehicle towed (expired registration), by not having to pay the towing and storage fees, by not have to pay a vehicle release fee, by not having to pay the parking fine, and by not having to pay the expired registration fine.

    However, this matter was left unattended and, as evidenced by this story, these arrogant PUBLIC SERVANTS became even bolder by altering the record keeping of the parking ticket machines without authority or vote of the joint city council, which should be a seperate offense in itself.

    At the very least, the City Manager and Council people involved should be prosecuted for tampering with public records, falsifying business records, official misconduct, conflict of interest, breach of fiduciary duty, and malfeasance of public office, for starters.

    This type of corruption is blatant within the walls of Pico Rivera’s City Hall ever since the arrival, departure, and return of this city manager.

    What I want to know is, who can you really turn to when politicians are corrupt?

    Will the Public Integrity Unit of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office do ANYTHING about this now?

    (copies of emails upon request)

  • ruben b.

    I was parked in the Walmart in the city of Pico Rivera. I got a ticket for expired tags. I thought parking enforcement could not ticket you in on private property….