Traffic Ticket Office Gets a Green Light

Rather than trekking to offices in West Los Angeles or downtown, Valley residents will be able to contest parking tickets in their own backyard starting this summer as a result of a City Council vote on Tuesday.

On a unanimous vote, the council authorized the city General Services Department to lease a property at 14428 Hamlin St. in Van Nuys with the sole purpose of providing a more convenient place for motorists to appeal parking tickets to an administrative examiner.

“This is going to increase the services to the San Fernando Valley significantly,” said Francine Oschin, assistant chief deputy for City Councilman Hal Bernson, who sponsored the motion. “For people who would have had to travel across town and take a day off work, it will not only be more convenient, but also more accessible to them.”

The city conducts about 24,000 hearings a year in the West L.A. and downtown offices. Officials predict the Valley office could conduct one-sixth of those hearings annually once it opens.

The motion outlines the terms for a five-year lease, with the option to extend for another five years. For the first year, the city will lease the 2,050-square-foot property, now vacant, for the monthly rate of 75 cents a square foot, or $18,450. The lease cost goes up slightly each year, with the fifth year cost at $1.15 a square foot, or $28,290.

The office will probably open in early July, Oschin said. In the meantime, general services employees will set up security, move furniture and oversee the installation of computers and phone lines in the office.

Two months ago, the council voted to spend $191,000 to pay for leasing the property near the Van Nuys Civic Center and cover the salaries of an office manager, a receptionist and an administrative hearing officer.

In the Valley alone, the city issues about 370,000 parking tickets a year.