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# Julia Reeves Santa Monica More loathing
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/julia-reeves-santa-monica-more-loathing-editor/
- Published: 2003-10-09T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:04:25.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Montana, #archive-import

*By Barbara Gordon*

This is a response to “Parking officers get enough abuse,” (SMDP, Oct. 7, page 4). I understand a few of your points. If someone is blocking your driveway, call the parking enforcement. I think parking officers have an important job, but their duties should be limited to receiving phone calls and helping the community rather than hurting it.

Parking officers don’t need to be out on the streets waiting for people’s meters to expire. The city makes enough money alone on parking meters. Parking officers LETTERS, from page 4 should enforce that cars are parked legally in spots on the street. That should be their only job, and parking meters should be done away with.

Here’s my story: A friend and I were delivering papers along Montana on a gorgeous Wednesday afternoon. We pulled over, dropped a quarter in the meter, then went our separate ways to ensure that our job was done properly and efficiently. Approximately fifteen minutes later, we met back at the car, saw that we still had about five minutes on the meter and decided to run into one more store to offer them the knowledgeable read of a local paper.

We’re happy, we’re smiling, all of a sudden, my friend breaks into a run as I take notice of a tall man in a blue shirt jotting down the numbers of my license plate. We both remain calm for about a minute as we tell him that we are on a paper route, that we put money in the meter and the last time we looked, it seemed to us we had plenty of time to run into one more store. The parking officer laughed and said, “That’s too bad. You have 21 days to contest the ticket.”

That’s when I lost it. I thought, “Where is the humanity and the justice within the parking enforcement which is supposedly a branch of the law which is supposedly out there on the streets for the people?”

Well, how is it for the people to unjustly punish two people working for the good of others with a $35 parking ticket? So I told him, “How would you like it if you were desperately struggling to make a living, and somebody came along and stole all the money you had just made in your morning shift?”

He gave me some line about how he’s been there, and blah blah blah. If that’s the case, then why would he give me a ticket? Is it that the parking officers have a quota that they must meet, or they won’t get their Christmas bonus? Is it really fair that parking officers wait idly by the meters about to expire and as soon as the red flag goes up, there they are, computer book in hand?

We were there, we were right there, we were about to move to the next block. I think that the duties of parking enforcement officers have gone into a gray, unjust, inhumane area. The parking enforcement officers should be reminded of what their jobs really are... to help the people, to listen to the people, to do what is right for the community. Instead, they are selfish and unkind, and I think that is a problem.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 9, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/100903.pdf?ref=smdp.com)