When I heard about the Gold Card last week, it confirmed what I always tell everyone: Los Angeles is one of the most corrupt cities in America. Any city government on the scale of LA pretty much has to be. But it really is infuriating to think that 1,000 parking tickets in the last year were dismissed by this so-called “Gold Card” with little to no paperwork or justification. If you’ve ever contested a citation with the City of Los Angeles, you know that 99.9% of the time, the appeal comes back with the same decision and the same fine, never reduced or dismissed altogether. And yet some jackass who does business with Eric Garcetti’s District gets to have his ticket reviewed and dismissed in an “expedited” manner? In a city of low-paying jobs and unequal opportunity, I don’t think the overprivileged need another advantage.
Epilogue: The Gold Card program was suspended the day after it became public, but don’t let Mayor Villaraigosa’s rhetoric fool you: the program was in place since 2008.