LADOT missed out on $15 million in revenue according to report

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here are significant issues of waste and financially irresponsible decisions by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. At least that’s what City Controller Wendy Greuel found in a recent investigation of the department.

Greuel found that the city missed out on nearly $15 million in revenue this past year. The report that Greuel's office issued showed the Department of Transportation failed to impound or put boots on three-quarters of vehicles with five or more unpaid parking tickets. The city calls these particular offenders "scofflaws."

"We believe just slapping another ticket on someone who has 20 tickets, and saying they might pay the ticket now because it's the 21st ticket is not a way to do things efficiently," said Greuel

The Controller's office said the Department of Transportation didn't to use its License Plate Recognition equipment which could have caught repeated ticket offenders. The department's Interim General Manager Amir Sedadi said they didn't use it because management decided to shift staff away from enforcing these particular laws. But now he says that will change.

"I assure you our traffic officers at LADOT will be out there every day, every month, every year using the latest technologies in the fight against scofflaws," said Sedadi.

Greuel said it was a "goof" not to aggressively punish these offenders.