LOVELY RITA’S REALM

In 1988, 13.5% of all parking citations in California were written either incorrectly or illegibly, causing the state to lose almost $5 million. According to the California Public Parking Assn., a new hand-held ticket-writing computer (not available in Orange County yet) will eliminate the possibility of errors. Orange County is reasonably meter-free, although some cities are in the process of installing them now or will soon be doing so. Here’s a city-by-city look at the number of meters in the county and the parking citations (meters and others) written during the last 2 years:

Number of Number of Parking Citations City Meters 1987 1988 Anaheim 0 42,515 *21,288 Brea 0 6,065 4,619 Buena Park 0 24,847 25,579 Costa Mesa 0 22,000 **26,257 Cypress 0 14,439 12,905 Fountain Valley 0 20,651 18,467 Fullerton 0 44,925 49,000 Garden Grove 0 4,721 4,967 Huntington Beach 14,000 51,504 69,056 Irvine 0 5,810 5,090 Laguna Beach 1,950 54,000 53,000 La Habra 0 n/a 7,612 La Palma 0 3,251 2,987 Los Alamitos 0 3,588 3,324 Newport Beach 2,127 123,697 120,258 Orange 0 12,579 18,621 Placentia ***** 0 7,849 8,329 San Clemente 800 11,638 9,164 Santa Ana 0 97,999 95,438 Seal Beach 0 21,552 28,270 Tustin 0 4,800 3,900 Westminster 0 17,887 21,000 Yorba Linda 0 1,976 1,089 South Beach Area *** 1,256 n/a n/a Unincorporated Areas **** n/a 42,302 38,557 TOTALS 20,133 640,595 648,777

* Figures represent only January to June, 1988

** Figures represent January to November

*** Includes: Aliso, Salt Creek, Capistrano Beach and Dana Point Harbor

**** Plus contracted cities: Mission Viejo, San Juan Capistrano, Stanton, Villa Park

***** Includes all traffic citations

N/A: Not available

Source: Individual cities