By Ann K. Williams
Lookout Staff

June 1, 2011 -- City officials are taking steps to make sure that motorists who contest parking citations in Santa Monica understand the reasons behind decisions made during the appeal process.

The change in policy came after a number of complaints that letters from the City do not tell appellants why their challenge has been turned down, only that they have to pay the ticket.

“Although the letters provide the minimum information required by law, the City believes that providing additional details with these letters would improve customer service,” City police and finance officials stated.

“The notifications sent by the City during the parking citation appeal process now reflect this additional information,” City officials stated.

People who have recently appealed a parking citation and want more information about why a citation was upheld, can e-mail their request with the citation number to parking.office@smgov.net, and they will receive a response within 10 business days.

Citation challengers who are still not satisfied with the City’s explanation can take the matter to the Superior Court, the final stage of review, officials said.

The enhanced letters are part of a year-long effort at City Hall to review and improve the way Santa Monica’s parking citations and parking permits are handled.

The City says it will continue to review its letter-writing and notification policy to make sure it is “more customer-friendly.”

Other recent improvements include the ability to renew parking permits online www.smgov.net/parking and the barcoding of permits to make them easier to verify by parking enforcemnent.

Also, in the near future, residents will be able to print one-day visitor’s passes for their guests in areas of the city restricted by preferential parking zones.

In addition, the City recently completed the installation of its first credit-card enabled parking meters.

The new meters – which will accept payment by cell phone as well as credit card and provide real-time reporting to reduce down time – have been installed on Ocean Avenue between Arizona and Colorado avenues and on Main Street between Colorado Avenue and Olympic Drive.

More of the high-tech meters will soon make their way to Second Street between Wilshire Boulevard and Broadway Street, Fifth Street between Wilshire Boulevard and Broadway Street, and on Ocean Avenue between Arizona and Colorado avenues.

If all goes according to plan, the City expects to replace all 8500 of its old-style meters over the next three years.